Hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus is an incurable brain disease that is caused by excessive fluid build up inside the brain.  This fluid causes pressure on the brain which creates brain damage.  Those suffering from hydrocephalus are at risk for permanent blindness, deafness, physical and mental disabilities and even death. 

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Hydrocephalus affects 1 in 1,000 births and can be acquired throughout a lifetime.  Normal pressure hydrocephalus is acquired in adulthood and is thought to affect about 700,000 known adults, although 80% of NPH cases are thought to be undiagnosed and often times misdiagnosed as dementia. 

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Most people with hydrocephalus lives depend on a medical device called a shunt.  A shunt has the highest rate of malfunction then any other medical device and has little advances since the 1950's when it was invented. Shunt malfunctions leave people in life threatening situations requiring multiple brain surgeries throughout a lifetime. 

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