Today, pediatricians around the world are increasingly diagnosing intracranial hypertension in infants. Many mothers are frightened by this diagnosis. We are always frightened by the unknown. So let's fix it, and we'll analyze in detail what it is and what it threatens.
So, the hypertension of the brain arises because of prolonged increased intracranial pressure (ICP). But why does it increase there? Intracranial pressure is not constant. Its importance can be influenced by prolonged physical exertion, emotional stress or stress. For the pressure inside the skull, the cerebrospinal fluid responds. It envelops the brain, it "floats" in it. This helps to protect the brain from damage and infections. Due to the constant movement of the cerebrospinal fluid, there is a metabolism between the brain and the body.
Normally, a healthy adult develops a liter of cerebrospinal fluid per day. It "washed" the brain and spinal cord, and then absorbed back into the blood. Sometimes in an adjusted system there are failures. Liquor is allocated too much, it does not have time to be absorbed in the proper volume or the permeability of the liquor ducts is impaired. In this case, ICP is increased and there is a syndrome of intracranial hypertension.
Symptoms of intracranial hypertension in children
Children usually complain of severe headaches, nausea, dying, or flashes in the eyes. They can be observed:
- drowsiness;
- retardation;
- apathy;
- loss of appetite;
- weakness;
- fast fatigue;
- tearfulness;
- irritability.
Children under one year can not say what hurts and what bothers them. Intracranial hypertension in children is suspected when
- presence of the following features:
- regurgitation with a "fountain";
- disproportionately large head size;
- monotonous crying;
- the swelling of the large fontanel and the divergence of the seams of the skull;
- increased irritability;
- refusal to eat;
- lethargy.
Treatment of the syndrome of intracranial hypertension in children should appoint a doctor. Since this is not a disease, but only a symptom, we first look for the cause of an increase in ICP. This may be hydrocephalus (hydrocephalus), hypoxia (oxygen starvation), encephalitis, meningitis (infectious diseases of the brain envelopes) and even birth trauma. Benign intracranial hypertension in children usually lends itself well to conservative treatment. In difficult cases, surgical intervention is practiced.