Working towards patient oriented outcome assessment in normal pressure hydrocephalus, what is the most important?

Discrepancies in Subjective Perceptions of Hydrocephalus Management and Self-Reported Outcomes

Background/Objectives: Despite surgical interventions with advances in endoscopic procedures as well as shunt technologies, the quality of life in patients with hydrocephalus can be poor. Clinical experience suggests discrepancies between objective measures of treatment success and subjective patient satisfaction. With this study, we retrospectively investigated patients' knowledge of their treatment as well as their satisfaction with received interventions. Methods: Retrospective analysis of self-reporting forms, routinely handed out in the hydrocephalus clinic of a tertiary neurosurgical center, was performed. Clinical data were gathered between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2023. Correlation of self-reporting forms and available clinical data was performed. Results: A total of 261 forms from 215 patients were obtained. The mean age at visit was 57.5 ± 18.5 years (range 19-88). The most common pathology was normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH, 31.6%); 31.2% had an occlusive etiology, 22.3% posthemorrhagic, 9.8% benign intracranial hypertension and 5.1% another pathology. Overall, 53% of patients (n = 114) indicated the correct therapy on the self-reporting forms (χ2 (56) = 100.986, p < 0.001). Symptoms and subjective benefit did not differ in the different types of provided therapy. Conclusions: Merely half of the patients with hydrocephalus are able to correctly indicate the treatment they had received. The type of shunt valve did not affect the rate of self-reported symptoms. The symptoms and subjective benefits did not differ in the different types of provided therapy. Poor patient knowledge could correlate with poor self-reported quality of life. Medical professionals should emphasize and advocate for better patient education.

17 years of experience with shunt systems in normal pressure hydrocephalus - From differential pressure to gravitational valves

Objective

Complication rate of shunting for normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) has significantly improved over the last decades. Especially the use of overdrainage protection has reduced the incidence of subdural hematoma and collections. However, gravitational valves were associated with other complications of shunt dysfunction. We present our 17 years of experience with patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus who changed from a differential pressure valve to a gravitational valve system.

Methods

We retrospectively identified all patients with the diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus, in whom primary shunt implantation was performed between 2004 and 2020. Shunt implantation was performed as per our internal standard. Review of imaging, charts and patient reports was performed.

Results

In total, 409 patients were included in the analysis. Mean age was 73.0 ± 7.1years. Between 2004 and 2010, predominantly Hakim valves (n = 100, 24.4%) were implanted, whilst from 2009 until 2020, proGAV valves (n = 296, 72.4%) were used. Mean follow-up was 8.9 ± 4.5 years. Initial subjective improvement of symptoms was reported in 69.9%, whilst this number decreased at the last follow-up to 29.8%. No significant differences were observed between the valves in the frequency of surgery for subdural hematoma. Shunt assistant implantation was performed in 17% of patients with Hakim valve, in 9.5% of patients with proGAV, a shunt assistant was added. Shunt obstruction was significantly higher in proGAV valves (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Our findings confirm the observation of frequent overdrainage in shunts without anti-siphon/gravitational component. Gravitational valves on the other hand may be associated with more obstruction.

Development of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the "Grading scale for idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus": cross-cultural adaptation, reliability and validity

OBJECTIVE

The current study translated to Portuguese and validated the normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) scale originally developed in English as the Grading Scale for Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

METHODS

Following Guillemin's validation protocol, the last version of the Portuguese NPH scale was applied to 121 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus (73 men and 48 women) from the Group of Cerebral Hydrodynamics from July 2010 to March 2012.

RESULTS

The mean age was 71.09 years old, ranging from 35 to 92 years. The rate of agreement and reproducibility was high, as confirmed by Cohen's Kappa coefficient, with excellent intraobserver correlation for the NPH scale items individually evaluated: gait (0.80), dementia (0.90) and incontinence (0.87).

CONCLUSIONS

The Portuguese version of the Grading Scale for Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus was successfully translated and validated for use in Brazilian patients.

An update on research priorities in hydrocephalus: overview of the third National Institutes of Health-sponsored symposium "Opportunities for Hydrocephalus Research: Pathways to Better Outcomes"

Building on previous National Institutes of Health-sponsored symposia on hydrocephalus research, "Opportunities for Hydrocephalus Research: Pathways to Better Outcomes" was held in Seattle, Washington, July 9-11, 2012. Plenary sessions were organized into four major themes, each with two subtopics: Causes of Hydrocephalus (Genetics and Pathophysiological Modifications); Diagnosis of Hydrocephalus (Biomarkers and Neuroimaging); Treatment of Hydrocephalus (Bioengineering Advances and Surgical Treatments); and Outcome in Hydrocephalus (Neuropsychological and Neurological). International experts gave plenary talks, and extensive group discussions were held for each of the major themes. The conference emphasized patient-centered care and translational research, with the main objective to arrive at a consensus on priorities in hydrocephalus that have the potential to impact patient care in the next 5 years. The current state of hydrocephalus research and treatment was presented, and the following priorities for research were recommended for each theme. 1) Causes of Hydrocephalus-CSF absorption, production, and related drug therapies; pathogenesis of human hydrocephalus; improved animal and in vitro models of hydrocephalus; developmental and macromolecular transport mechanisms; biomechanical changes in hydrocephalus; and age-dependent mechanisms in the development of hydrocephalus. 2) Diagnosis of Hydrocephalus-implementation of a standardized set of protocols and a shared repository of technical information; prospective studies of multimodal techniques including MRI and CSF biomarkers to test potential pharmacological treatments; and quantitative and cost-effective CSF assessment techniques. 3) Treatment of Hydrocephalus-improved bioengineering efforts to reduce proximal catheter and overall shunt failure; external or implantable diagnostics and support for the biological infrastructure research that informs these efforts; and evidence-based surgical standardization with longitudinal metrics to validate or refute implemented practices, procedures, or tests. 4) Outcome in Hydrocephalus-development of specific, reliable batteries with metrics focused on the hydrocephalic patient; measurements of neurocognitive outcome and quality-of-life measures that are adaptable, trackable across the growth spectrum, and applicable cross-culturally; development of comparison metrics against normal aging and sensitive screening tools to diagnose idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus against appropriate normative age-based data; better understanding of the incidence and prevalence of hydrocephalus within both pediatric and adult populations; and comparisons of aging patterns in adults with hydrocephalus against normal aging patterns.

Improvement in social function and health-related quality of life after shunt surgery for idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus

Object

To investigate the impact of shunt surgery on the activity, participation, autonomy, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) as well as the effect on caregiver burden.

Methods

Thirty-seven patients (median age 70 years, range 50–89 years) with iNPH were evaluated before and 6 months after surgery. Symptoms and signs were assessed by the iNPH scale, activities of daily living (ADL) with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS), autonomy and participation with Impact on Participation and Autonomy (IPA), and caregiver burden with the Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS). HRQOL was evaluated with the EQ-5D (EuroQol Group–5 Dimension health survey).

Results

Twenty-four patients (65%) improved clinically (iNPH scale score) and 31 (86%) improved their HRQOL after surgery, almost to the same level as found in the normal population. The patients became more independent in physical and cognitive activities, and participation and autonomy improved. The caregiver burden was decreased among caregivers to male patients but remained unchanged on the overall group level.

Conclusions

After shunt surgery, patients with iNPH showed improvement in most aspects of social life, they became more independent, and their quality of life returned to nearly normal.

A new scale for assessment of severity and outcome in iNPH

OBJECTIVE

To present a new, continuous, calibrated and norm-based scale for the grading of severity and assessment of treatment outcome in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A scale designed for the assessment of the four domains, gait, neuropsychology, balance and continence, using ordinal ratings and continuous measures, was developed. Data from a series of 181 consecutive iNPH patients were used to calibrate the continuous parts of the scale and to describe the distributional properties of the ordinal ratings. Data from normative studies were used to determine the limits for normal scores.

RESULTS

The construction of the scale made it well equipped to separate iNPH patients at baseline, and the total scores assumed a bell-shaped, approximately normal distribution. All four domain scores correlated significantly with each other, underscoring the well-known syndromatic nature of iNPH, and justifying the use of a total score to describe the patients. Reliability [Cronbach's α for the total score = 0.74, and for the domains of gait and neuropsychology, 0.86 and 0.89, respectively) and validity estimates (convergent validity evaluated by Spearman rank correlations for the scale and the modified Rankin scale (ρ = -0.61) and the mini mental state examination (ρ = 0.57)] are satisfying.

CONCLUSION

The iNPH scale covers the four most important symptom domains and the full range of severity of the iNPH syndrome. The scale is sensitive, reliable, valid and feasible. We recommend that it should be used in future iNPH research.