Long-term outcome in 109 adult patients operated on for hydrocephalus

To examine the long-term effects of surgery in adult hydrocephalus we conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire study assessing both the patients' sense of well-being, and changes in gait, living conditions, daily need of sleep and bladder function. One-hundred-and-nine consecutive patients operated for non-communicating hydrocephalus (N-CH) (22) and communicating normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), both idiopathic (38) and secondary (49) were included. For survival analyses, three reference groups were selected from the general population and from the Northern Sweden MONICA Project. At long-term follow-up, 29 (27%) patients had died. Sixty-eight patients (62%) returned the questionnaire, while 12 (11%) patients did not reply. The median follow-up time was 4.2 years (range 2.3 - 6.2 years). Fifty-four (79%) of these patients reported that they still felt improved and 60% had persisting observable improvement of gait, living conditions, bladder function and need of sleep. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed that 54 (50%) of the patients still felt better and 37% remained functionally improved. The standardized mortality ratio (observed expected) was 3.01 (CI: 2.01 - 4.32).