hydrocephalus

Term: hydrocephalus

Literally meaning: "water in the brain”

Origin: Anc Greek

υδρo-/hydro-(=suffix denoting water) >ύδωρ/hydor(=water)

κεφαλήν/cephalin(=head)

Coined/History

Hippocrates (5th century B.C.), is thought to be the first physician to document the treatment of hydrocephalus. Further description and delineation of this condition can be found in the works of Galen (130-200 A.D.) although he believed this condition was caused by an extraaxial accumulation of CSF rather than enlargement of the ventricles. In the Middle Ages, the Arabic surgeon Abul-Qasim Al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), wrote about the diagnosis and treatment of hydrocephalus. Vesalius (1514-1564) at the University of Padua clarified many of the anatomical and pathological characteristics of hydrocephalus. Vesalius, however, upheld the Galenic view that the CSF was a vaporous substance, the "spiritus animalis," produced in the ventricles that provided energy and motion to all parts of the body. In Observations on the Dropsy in the Brain, written in the middle 18th century, Robert Whytt first described hydrocephalus as a disease, illustrating several cases of internal hydrocephalus caused by tuberculous meningitis.

Definition

Hydrocephalus is an abnormal increase in the amount of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the cranium which increases intracranial pressure and can causes enlargement of the skull and compression of the brain.