Aqueduct stenosis--presentation and prognosis.

In the 14-year period from 1974-1987 during which CT scanning was available in Edinburgh, 36 patients with benign, non-tumour related aqueduct stenosis were identified from a group of 342 patients with hydrocephalus. In terms of age at presentation, the patients separate into two groups, 9 cases diagnosed during the first year of life and 27 patients aged from 7 to 72 years. The presentation in the early cases was fairly acute, the diagnosis was secure and the operative treatment by ventricular peritoneal shunt was relatively free of complications. In the older patients, the first presentation was more chronic, and further investigation required a change of diagnosis in 5 of the 27 patients. More than half of the patients had recurrent symptoms which were much more acute and operative treatment was attended by a significant number of complications including death from intraventricular haemorrhage in one case.