A diagnosis such as intracranial pressure inchild, is probably familiar to many parents. As a rule, having heard this diagnosis, mothers and fathers get scared. Are these fears justified or is everything not so scary? First, you need to find out what increased intracranial pressure in a child is. Doctors mean by this concept the level of pressure on the brain of the cerebrospinal fluid. Cerebrospinal fluid is produced by small vessels of the brain. It is located in the ventricles of the brain and performs the following functions in the body:

• eliminates the metabolic products that occur in the brain cells;
• protects brain cells from pathogenic microorganisms;
• protects the brain from certain external mechanical influences (strokes).

The body of a healthy child produces about400-500 mg of cerebrospinal fluid per day. However, despite this, intracranial pressure always remains within normal limits. This is possible due to the fact that the fluid is regularly absorbed by the vessels of the brain. From the above, it can be understood that intracranial pressure is directly related to the amount of cerebrospinal fluid produced and the degree of its absorption by the vessels of the brain.

Causes of increased intracranial pressure

Intracranial pressure, like arterial pressure,is unstable. Its level can reach both low and high values ​​during the day. There are several reasons that can lead to an increase in intracranial pressure. These are screaming, crying, strong emotions and physical exertion. This is especially pronounced in small children, who often have a fontanelle that swells when crying. Minor changes in intracranial pressure are a completely normal natural phenomenon inherent in all people, both babies and adults. However, in some cases, it can increase quite strongly, and sometimes for a long time, which can cause problems in the functioning of the brain. In such cases, doctors suspect the presence of intracranial hypertension. With an increase in intracranial pressure in children, the most common cause of pathology is hydrocephalus. When the cerebrospinal fluid is produced by the body in too large quantities, or there is a violation of its absorption into the vessels of the brain, or the circulation in the ventricles does not occur properly, the child is diagnosed with hydrocephalus. Doctors divide hydrocephalus into two types: congenital and acquired disease, depending on the reasons why it developed in a child. It is easy to guess that a child can get acquired hydrocephalus under the influence of unfavorable external factors. Congenital hydrocephalus develops in a baby during the period of intrauterine development, its symptoms appear on the first day of the child's life. There are several reasons that contribute to the appearance of intrauterine hydrocephalus - these are genetic mutations, impaired outflow of cerebrospinal fluid, hemorrhages in the brain. But do not despair in this situation. The disease is diagnosed quite quickly, and timely treatment will help the child grow and develop normally, not inferior in development to their healthy peers.

Signs of increased intracranial pressure

Doctors cannot always notice the onset in timediseases. And it's not about their professionalism, the doctor just sees the baby less often than his parents. Therefore, mom and dad need to be very attentive so as not to miss the onset of the disease. Symptoms of intracranial pressure include:

Change the size and shape of the head. It becomes unnaturally large, especially noticeable in the forehead. The rate of change in the shape of the head in all children is different, so you need to consult a doctor already with the slightest suspicion. However, an increase in the child's head, most often, can be detected only when measured. Therefore it is important to pass all preventive examinations at the pediatrician in time.

Suspicion of hydrocephalus can causeconstant swelling of the fontanel and the distance between the seams of the skull. In a healthy child, the fontanel should be slightly sunken or slightly convex. If the fontanel swells constantly, regardless of whether the child is at rest or tense, it is worth worrying.

Graefe's symptom, which in medicine has a name"setting sun" symptom. It can be detected by careful examination of the baby's eyes. If the child has a disease such as hydrocephalus, his gaze is almost always lowered, and parents can see a strip of sclera between the upper eyelid and the pupil. In children with hydrocephalus, the venous network is almost always clearly visible.

Children suffering from hydrocephalus, usually, unnecessarilytearful and irritable: they can cry for quite a long time and very monotonously. Such sudden outbursts of emotion can be replaced by severe drowsiness and lethargy.

In the absence of proper treatment, children suffering fromhydrocephalus, may significantly lag behind in development from healthy. They are much later than their peers, start to hold their heads, sit down, crawl and walk. And the weight of a child can be much lower than normal, because such children often and plentifully regurgitate.

Although, in fairness, it should be noted thatthat increased intracranial pressure may be a sign of not only hydrocephalus, but also many other diseases. Such diseases include craniocerebral trauma, hemorrhages, tumors, various infectious diseases (encephalitis, meningitis) and genetic disorders. Therefore, children suffering from increased intracranial pressure should undergo examination by appropriate specialists as soon as possible.

Treatment of this pathology

As stated earlier, under no circumstancesIntracranial pressure should not be ignored. If it is not normalized in time, the child's brain development may slow down, and in particularly difficult cases, even stop completely. This leads to such serious consequences as mental retardation and severe disability of the child. Most often, medications do not have the desired effect. That is why they are usually prescribed as a temporary measure when preparing the child for surgery. By the way, these drugs are often prescribed to children who are mistakenly diagnosed with increased intracranial pressure. However, this does not happen so rarely, but we will talk about this later. Surgery is used to treat true hydrocephalus or other brain diseases that are accompanied by increased intracranial pressure. Its main purpose is to install a shunt, which is a special tube that removes excess volumes of cerebrospinal fluid from the brain. It is diverted either into the abdominal cavity or into the heart cavity. The shunt can be installed for a variety of times from several weeks to several years of the child's life. As a rule, such an operation gives a stunning effect: children recover extremely quickly. Very often, parents ask doctors whether the shunt interferes with the child. This concern is understandable, but unfounded. Children who have undergone a shunt operation can lead a normal, full life.

What not to do with increased intracranial pressure

Sometimes parents of children diagnosed with"intracranial pressure", try to cope with the disease on their own with the help of various folk methods of treatment or use drugs that can harm the health of the child. This should not be done under any circumstances, because increased intracranial pressure in children under one year is extremely dangerous and indicates the presence of a serious disease. Moreover, you should not rely on physiotherapy, massage, vitamin therapy, exercise therapy and similar methods that are unable to help the child in the treatment of this disease. They are used only as a means of rehabilitation after surgery, because they help children recover as quickly as possible. All procedures are selected individually, taking into account all the features of the disease and the health of the baby.

Why this diagnosis is put so often

It has already been said above that doctors are veryoften play it safe when diagnosing children with increased intracranial pressure. Why does this happen? Is it because the doctor is not qualified? Don't rush to accuse doctors of incompetence, they are right in many ways. After all, increased intracranial pressure in children is not a separate disease, but just a symptom of a serious disease. That is why a doctor has no right to ignore signs that even remotely indicate the possibility of increased intracranial pressure. Otherwise, you can simply miss the onset of a disease, which is why the child may not receive timely treatment. And since there are many signs indicating the presence of this symptom in a child, doctors play it safe and make an appropriate diagnosis. Naturally, it will not be possible to confirm it immediately, because this requires many different complex studies, which cannot be carried out in one day. Most often, doctors need more than one month to make a final diagnosis. During the entire examination, the child must be under the strict supervision of a neurologist and pediatrician. If a child really has such a disease as increased intracranial pressure, he or she will definitely have some signs of this disease or another disease that has led to increased intracranial pressure. As a rule, the final diagnosis is made by the end of the first year: the signs of pathology either completely disappear, or the cause of the development of this pathology is revealed. In any case, when signs of high blood pressure appear in children, parents should not panic, first of all, you need to see a doctor and calm down, because panic is not an assistant in this case. The only right decision in this case will be to find a good neurologist, to whom you can completely trust the health of the child. After all, in the near future, parents and the doctor will work very closely. Only their joint efforts will help the baby grow up healthy.

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