Neurological and Intellectual Sequelae of Hydrocephalus

HYDROCEPHALUS in childhood has a number of quite different causes,¹and, except where it is associated with spina bifida cystica, seems to show in later life a distinct pattern of neurological and psychological features.²Spasticity, tremor, ataxia, unstable mentality, verbal facility coupled with shallow intellect, these are present severally, but it is not yet established that severity of these symptoms must necessarily combine with the severity of the hydrocephalus. It is arguable from a clinical standpoint that it is immaterial whether the hydrocephalus has arrested spontaneously or as a result of successful surgery, except that the condition might well have progressed further in unoperated cases than it would generally be allowed to do by an interested surgeon. Methods The children under surveillance were first seen between 1938 and 1956.³,⁴Thirty-four out of the 182 had their hydrocephalus associated with spina bifida cystica and have been excluded from