British journal of neurosurgery
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Low pressure hydrocephalus (LPH) is a rare clinical condition. We report our experience with 10 patients treated at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. We reviewed the records of 10 patients (five men, five women; mean age 43 years) treated between 1996 and 2000. ⋯ We propose that while ventriculomegaly (and therefore neuronal dysfunction) can be initiated in the setting of high ICP, the maintenance of ventriculomegaly at normal or low ICP is a physiological example of hysteresis. This behaviour, which has been characterized by the chaos theory of non-linear dynamics as a Hopf bifurcation, explains how a system can exhibit two different states (ventricular size) at a single parameter value (ICP). Most importantly, it helps to explain how lowering ICP in the setting of LPH can resolve ventriculomegaly and its neurologic sequelae.
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Otological damage is well-recognized following head injury. The commonest complication is hearing loss. We present a case of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss due to bilateral temporal bone fractures following an epileptic seizure, which is unique in the literature and illustrates the importance of this complication of head injury.