[Congenital hydrocephalus--initial status (prognosis) of congenital hydrocephalus].

Only 1/4-1/3 of the surviving patients have severe neurological findings, are continuously treated with anticonvulsives and/or have a severe mental retardation; the same number of school children is totally dependent on nursing and ineducable. All patients remain shunt-dependent. A few prognostic pointers can be obtained from the aetiology of hydrocephalus, from the occurrence of perinatal pathology and from the head circumference at birth. In cases with a head circumference of more than 45 cm shunting should be performed beyond the neonatal period only for nursing reasons.