Fluid buildup in the brain treated with a shunt improves symptoms, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Problems walking, urinary issues, cognitive impairment…these are all symptoms of normal pressure hydrocephalus, where fluid builds up in the brain, and is fairly common with aging. Now a study by neurosurgeon Mark Luciano at Johns Hopkins and colleagues has shown that placing a shunt helps.

Luciano: We were hoping at three months we'll be able to tell. Most patients will have recovered from the surgery enough and we're looking at the fluid effects. Some of them are getting no shunting essentially and some of them again their regular shunting. That's when we measure the gait, we also are measuring MRIs, detailed neuro psych testing. The study did show that there is a significant difference between these two groups. The placebo group was flat they did not get better and the other group did take off. What's nice about this from a patient standpoint is a three month group we do expect as it happened in a pilot three months group will join the other patients who are shunting so everybody eventually gets the benefit.     :32

Luciano says the condition should be considered in older people with walking difficulties and other symptoms. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.