The Boston Children's Hospital Hydrocephalus Program treats children, teens, and adults with all forms of hydrocephalus — an excess of cerebrospinal fluid in or around the brain.
In the late 1950s, innovations by Boston Children's neurosurgeons enabled the first effective treatment the world had seen for hydrocephalus by rerouting excess fluid from the brain into a different body cavity — a process known as shunting. In the decades since, clinicians in the Boston Children's Hydrocephalus Program have designed and tested the next generation of shunting devices, and have pioneered and refined the use of minimally invasive techniques to more effectively treat hydrocephalus while reducing the risk of complications. Our work includes the landmark ETV/CPC procedure, which combines endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) with choroid plexus cauterization (CPC), to more effectively treat hydrocephalus while minimizing stress and shortening aftercare for patients.
Today our physicians not only perform ETV/CPC procedure and other life-saving treatments, but they are teaching these techniques to pediatric neurosurgeons around the world.
Our team works with you to evaluate which hydrocephalus treatment will work best for your child.
Why choose the Boston Children’s Hydrocephalus Program?
Here at Boston Children’s, your child will be cared for by experts from several key disciplines, working together to develop the best possible treatment plan. Our team can address every aspect of your child’s care — from the initial diagnostic imaging to state-of-the-art treatment to long-term follow up and family support.
We work closely with other experts across Boston Children's — including genetic counselors, imaging specialists and social workers — to meet all of your child's needs, including treatment for other conditions that might be associated, such as congenital malformations or tumors of the brain or spinal cord.
Our clinicians have many years of experience performing all the available options for safe and effective treatment of hydrocephalus.
