Zofia Czosnyka, PhD
Senior Research Associate, Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK
Lecture Title: What is certain and uncertain in hydrocephalus from CSF dynamics perspective.
My professional activity in Cambridge (since 1992) has been invariantly linked with management of hydrocephalus. I co-author 164 publications listed in PubMed. In 1994 I set-up and run Shunt Evaluation Laboratory — world renowned centre for independent evaluation of hydrodynamic properties of hydrocephalus shunts enabling precise shunt testing and tailoring use of different types of shunts in patients presenting with selective CSF circulatory problems. The Laboratory tested 21 types of valves producing number of publications and well known in the UK ‘blue reports’ containing descriptions, indications, literature review of the most popular and innovative type of shunts.
Since 1999 I have run physiological monitoring unit (including computerized infusion tests and overnight monitoring of intracranial pressure) to diagnose hydrocephalic patients. These works have already gained some recognition and recently, I extended their scope to monitoring cerebral autoregulation, pressure-reactivity, analysis of vasogenic waveforms.
My three most important achievements in this field include:
- Set up criteria for in-vivo assessment of hydrocephalus shunt, useful in avoiding of unnecessary shunt revisions
- Description of the link between failure of CSF circulation in hydrocephalus and haemodynamic failure
- Popularization of infusion tests and overnight ICP monitoring in diagnosis of diseases linked to disorders of CSF circulation.