The University of Washington states that cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid in the brain and spinal cord, has four major functions: transporting hormones, protecting the brain, removing waste and creating buoyancy. When too much cerebrospinal fluid...
Hydrocephalus, derived from the Greek words hydro, meaning water, and cephalus, meaning head, is a medical condition caused by the abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles, or cavities, of the brain. Hydrocephalus causes an...
Patients with meningitis have an infection of the meninges, a tissue that covers the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis can result from a virus or bacterium. One type of meningitis, pneumococcal meningitis, is a bacterial meningitis caused by...
Children born before the 37th week of the pregnancy are considered premature babies, according to the American Pregnancy Association. Because these children did not have the full gestational period, they have risks for certain conditions, which...
The goal of inversion therapy is most often to alleviate pain, whether it be in your back or your head. There is anecdotal evidence that inversion therapy may help migraine sufferers by reducing frequency of these headaches. No medical studies...
Starting with a craniotomy, whereby an opening is created in the skull, brain surgery allows the doctor to remove abnormal growths, or repair problems in the brain. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that brain surgery requires three...
The central nervous system (CNS) includes the brain and accompanying spinal cord. Because the CNS contains fragile and sensitive organs, it is protected by a physiological blood-brain barrier. In addition, the brain and spinal cord are contained...
Pressure headaches are the most common types of headaches. They can occur when something such as mucus, blood, or cerebrospinal fluid buildup and causes increasing pressure. A growing tumor in the brain can also cause such headaches. Migraines,...
Meningitis is an infection that can be caused by either bacteria or a virus. The infection causes the cerebrospinal fluid and the membranes that surround the brain to become inflamed causing headaches, stiff neck and a fever. In mild cases of...
If bacteria can successfully invade the body and get into the bloodstream then penetrate what is called the blood-brain barrier to go from the bloodstream to the brain, they can survive in the cerebrospinal fluid and cause meningitis. A physician...
According to the site Spinalheadache.org, spinal headaches occur when the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal nerves leaks out, causing the pressure within the skull to decrease. Spinal headaches are characterized by an extreme...
Intracranial hypertension occurs when the pressure inside of the skull increases to abnormal levels. The causes of this condition vary, and in some cases there is no clear cause at all. Benign, or idiopathic, intracranial hypertension--sometimes...
Cerebrospinal fluid consists of a colorless protective liquid that covers the brain and spinal cord of the central nervous system surface, according to the website Neuroscience for Kids. The purpose of cerebrospinal fluid is to transport hormones,...
Intracranial hypertension (IH) refers to a condition of increased pressure in your skull due to too much cerebrospinal fluid (fluid surrounding your brain and spinal cord), according to the Intracranial Hypertension Research Foundation (IHRF)....
A benign tumor that forms on a nerve that connects the brain and the inner ear, an acoustic neuroma affects six to 10 million people each year, according to the University of California, Irvine's Department of Otolaryngology. One treatment option...
Antibiotics and other medical treatments can successfully treat most cases of sinus problems without the need for surgery. Most people undergo sinus surgery when nonsurgical treatments fail to correct the problem. Sinus surgery involves removing...
Viral meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges surrounding your brain and spinal cord due to a viral infection. The meninges are membranous coverings of the brain that protect the brain and spinal cord and keep cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from...
Your doctor can use a rapid test approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2007 that can diagnose a case of viral meningitis just a few hours after infection. Known as the Xpert EV test, the procedure is used in combination with other...
Acoustic neuroma is another name for vestibular schwannoma, a benign tumor that grows on the eighth cranial nerve. It relays information between the brain and inner ear. An acoustic neuroma can range in size from 1.5cm to as large as 6cm,...
The complications arising from surgically treating a tethered spinal cord depend on several factors. The most important of these is the patient's age, where young children have the best prognosis for symptomatic relief. However, the extent of the...
Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a condition that causes inflammation of the spinal cord and the brain. Specifically, this neurological ailment causes damage to the myelin surrounding the brain's nerves. Both adults and children can...
Intracranial hypertension is increased pressure of cerebrospinal fluid in the skull. Common treatments, such as optic nerve surgery or shunt implants, often are invasive and present substantial risk. Acupuncture, a form of complementary medicine...
A staging system is a standardized way for the cancer care team to summarize information about the extent of your cancer. However, cancers of the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system [CNS]) differ from tumors in other parts of the...
The pituitary gland lies at the base of the brain and contains a number of specialized cells. The gland functions to secrete a number of hormones, which then travel throughout the body in the bloodstream to trigger biological responses in tissues....
The brain is encased in several protective barriers. One of which is a thin, watery fluid, referred to as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF. The Abramson Cancer Center explains that CSF is contained within fluid-filled pockets called ventricles, which...
According to KidsHealth, viral meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges, the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord, by virus. Viral meningitis causes changes in the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal...
A spinal block or spinal anesthesia is a form of local or regional anesthesia. The medication in this case is injected directly into the cerebrospinal fluid, which surrounds the spinal cord in the lower back. It is used for genitourinary surgery,...
The human brain is part of the central nervous system. The brain is protected by the skull on the outside and meninges, a three-layer membrane, on the inside. The average weight of an adult brain is about 3 lbs. An interruption in blood flow to...
MedlinePlus describes acoustic neuroma--also known as a vestibular schwannoma--as a noncancerous growth that develops on the acoustic nerve, or the nerve that connects the ear to the brain. It may be part of a generalized condition called...