INFANTILE HYDROCEPHALUS IN SOUTHERN SAUDI ARABIA

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence and causes of infantile hydrocephalus. METHODOLOGY: Retrospective study of cases of infantile hydrocephalus comparing results with regional and international trends. RESULTS: Infantile hydrocephalus (IH) affected 62 infants from among 87,127 registered total live births giving an overall incidence of 0.71/1000. Eighteen cases (29%) with spinal dysraphism, 15 cases (24%) with acqueductal stenosis, 9 (14.5%) post meningitis, 6 (9.7%) post haemorrhagic, 6 (9.7%) with structural Central Nervous System (CNS) anomalies (holoprosencephaly 2, hemispheric cysts 2, brain dysgenesis 1, and vascular anomaly 1), 3 (4.9%) congenital idiopathic, 2 (3.2%) Dandy-Walker malformation, 2 (3.2%) toxoplasmosis and one case (1.6%) achondroplasia. Prenatal factors accounted for 46 cases (74.2%) of this series, while postnatal factors accounted for 16 cases (25,8%). Of the latter group, 9 (14.5%) were due to meningitis while 6 (9.7%) were post haemorrhagic. Of the postnatal group there were 8 preterm babies (4.7% of the total series and 53.3% of the postnatal group). CONCLUSION: While the incidence of infantile hydrocephalus in this region remains statistically unchanged, new characteristics have emerged. It is interesting to notice the increased number of premature babies in the postnatal group. More associated CNS malformations have been noticed in the prenatal group. Still prenatal causes form the bulk of all cases.