The relationship of intelligence and cerebral mantle in treated infantile hydrocephalus. (IQ potential in hydrocephalic children).

Hydrocephalus in early life can often be so successfully treated as to allow children to live and grow with normal intelligence. Whereas untreated hydrocephalus allows only unpredictable intelligence when arrested, a far better prognosis holds for treated hydrocephalus. In an analysis of 147 patients with hydrocephalus treated by valveregulated ventriculovenous shunt, IQ can be related to ultimate frontal cerebral mantle. We have sought to correlate late IQ with the nature of the presenting abnormality, the age at which treatment was instituted, and the adequacy of control of the hydrocephalus as reflected in growth of cerebral mantle. This analysis indicates that in certain specific situations, prognosis for good IQ is predictable. At the same time, the study suggests guidelines for adequacy of shunting and the urgency for early shunting to allow for maximum benefits.