The Field of Neural Hydrodynamics

Ghassan Bejjani, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an IHRF Scientific Advisor, opened the Symposium with a discussion of the similarities between disorders of increased intracranial pressure.

Citing an example from a paper that he authored, Dr. Bejjani reported significant similarities between adult Chiari malformation (ACM) and idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) including patient demographics, presenting symptoms and response to treatment. He also discovered that there was an eight-fold increase in the incidence of significant tonsillar herniation in the IIH patients studied, and suggested that disorders of increased intracranial pressure—including ACM and IIH—are interrelated.According to his paper, one clue to the close connection between ACM and IIH may be a physical disproportion between the size of the skull and the size of the brain.

Dr. Bejjani stressed the importance of focusing on the common links between intracranial hypertension, hydrocephalus, Chiari malformation and syringomyelia, as well as developing common common treatments for patients with these disorders.