Pujari S, Kharkar S, Metellus P et al.
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2008;79:1282–6.
Editor’s note: Normal pressure hydro-cephalus (NPH) usually presents in the sixth or seventh decade of life with deterioration in gait, memory, and urinary function. There is a paucity of data about the long-term effects of ventriculo-peritoneal or ventriculo-atrial shunting in this condition. The current authors retrospectively examined the records of 55 patients with idiopathic NPH who had been followed up for more than 3 years. The patients underwent an annual Mini Mental State Examination and a detailed clinical evaluation of gait. In addition, the patients’ and relatives’ opinions on headache, cognition, gait, and urinary function were obtained. The mean duration of follow-up was almost 6 years after initial shunt insertion.