Hydrocephalous and Diving

[jamiei]

a close friend of mine was recently diagnosed with hydrocephalous (involves pressure (fluid) on the brain), she had a shunt put in and seems to be fine now. What this is that the fluid around her brain doesn't drain as well as most people's do and the result is a high intercranial pressure. What the doctor said to her was that, "She could never be an astronaut or a 'deep sea diver'" Does this exclude her from all scuba diving? I thought the pressure change involved with scuba only affected "air spaces" and thus wouldn't affect the pressures of the fluids in her head. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear jamiei:

Pressure changes

You are correct in noting that pressure differences only affect air-filled spaces in diving. I do not know the specifics of the procedure to know if hydrostatic pressure differences might be a problem in this particular instance. The physicians with more familiarity in this matter will not to provide more input.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[BillP]

Howdy jamiei:

Scubadoc has an article on his website about diving with hydrocephalus and a shunt. Head over to:

http://www.scuba-doc.com/hdrcph.html

HTH,

Bill