History and Physical Examination
The various types of hydrocephalus can present differently in different age groups.
Acute hydrocephalus typically presents with headache, gait disturbance, vomiting, and visual changes. In infants, irritability or poor head control can be early signs of hydrocephalus. When the third ventricle dilates, the patient can present with Parinaud syndrome (upgaze palsy with a normal vertical Doll response) or the setting sun sign (Parinaud syndrome with lid retraction and increased tonic downgaze).
Occasionally, a focal deficit, such as sixth nerve palsy, can be the presenting sign. Papilledema is often present, though it may lag behind symptomatology. Infants present with bulging fontanelles, dilated scalp veins, and an increasing head circumference. When advanced, hydrocephalus presents with brainstem signs, coma, and hemodynamic instability.
Normal-pressure hydrocephalus has a very distinct symptomatology. The patient is older and presents with progressive gait apraxia, incontinence, and dementia. This triad of symptoms defines normal-pressure hydrocephalus.
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Noncommunicating obstructive hydrocephalus caused by obstruction of foramina of Luschka and Magendie. This MRI sagittal image demonstrates dilatation of lateral ventricles with stretching of corpus callosum and dilatation of fourth ventricle.
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Communicating hydrocephalus with surrounding "atrophy" and increased periventricular and deep white-matter signal on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequences. Note that apical cuts (lower row) do not show enlargement of sulci, as is expected in generalized atrophy. Pathologic evaluation of this brain demonstrated hydrocephalus with no microvascular pathology corresponding with signal abnormality (which likely reflects transependymal exudate) and normal brain weight (indicating that sulci enlargement was due to increased subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] conveying pseudoatrophic brain pattern).
