Clinical rules created for brain condition

RICHMOND, Va., Sep 20, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Experts led by Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond have created the first clinical guidelines for treatment of normal pressure hydrocephalus.

The debilitating brain condition is often undiagnosed or is misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

An international advisory panel led by Anthony Marmarou, a VCU professor of neurosurgery and director of research in the VCU School of Medicine's Department of Neurosurgery, developed the guidelines.

"NPH was first identified in the mid-1960s," said Marmarou. "Since that time, there have been several thousand articles published in the field. We've taken all this information and reached consensus on how to diagnose and treat these patients."

The new guidelines deal exclusively with idiopathic NPH. Physicians are advised of which tests to use in making a diagnosis and how to determine if treatment with a shunt will help reverse or improve the condition. Shunts are used to drain excess fluid from the brain to relieve pressure.

The clinical guidelines are detailed in a supplement to the September edition of Neurosurgery, the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.