ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Though uncommon, hydrocephalus impacts patients’ lives chronically, requiring regular hospital visits to respond to symptoms and simply monitor status. The shunts that relieve fluid pressure in the brain are failure-prone, but current imaging methods don’t provide enough data to assess their function. Rhaeos is seeking to fill that gap with a wearable flow monitor that yields insightful data in minutes.
Hydrocephalus, or an excess of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), affects approximately one million Americans and has no cure or means to prevent it. Often occurring in infancy or youth, symptoms can include lethargy, headaches, and nausea, with more serious occurrences potentially causing a seizure or coma. This condition impacts patients’ quality of life and must be treated clinically with a ventricular shunt that drains the CSF into a less pressure-sensitive area like the peritoneum, a procedure that costs the US healthcare system $2 billion annually.
