Jean Chazal

Professor of Anatomy, Embryology, and Organogenesis at the Faculty of Medicine
Neurosurgeon at the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital Center
Former President of the French-speaking Society of Neurosurgery, former Secretary-General, and co-founder of the French Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery
Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Clermont-Ferrand
Sworn Judicial Expert before the Court of Assizes of Paris and the Judicial Courts of the Île-de-France region

Lecture Title: Hydrocephalus, History and Evolutionary Perspectives

A student of Pierre Janny, a pioneer in measuring intracranial pressure in humans, and later an anatomist, Jean Chazal focused on the study of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation and resorption, as well as its disorders, including hydrocephalus, from the fetal period to the end of life.
Hydrocephalus thus became one of his primary areas of interest. Since the very beginning of his career in 1975 until today, he has witnessed the remarkable evolution of diagnostic methods, from ventriculography to CT scans and ultimately MRI in cases of physiopathological and diagnostic uncertainty due to interindividual variations and age (infants, children, adults, elderly individuals), the guiding principle for greater certainty has been the practice of hydrodynamic tests or lumbar infusion tests to measure the resistance to CSF flow in its circulation and resorption pathways.
The advancement of technology, particularly through MRI studies of CSF circulation, and the simplification of hydrodynamic tests practice and analysis, represent promising future prospects. In the field of treatment, the next major breakthrough would be the development of an intelligent valve capable of restoring physiological CSF pressure and circulation, adapted to all conditions of a patient’s life.