Towards a Better Understanding of the Pathophysiology and Clinical Management of Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (iNPH) is common in elderly, and it is the only treatable dementia in this population. Additionally, its social impact is huge. Although Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) shunting was established as a treatment method, there are still remaining controversies in the diagnostic methods and their value, as well as therapeutic efficacy. Currently, two official guideline recommendations for iNPH management exist – for EU-US, and for Japan, which reflects the multi-directed research and clinical solutions, and lack of consensus. There are significant discrepancies in the results depending on the diagnostic criteria applied in different centers and geographic regions, and existing evidence is relatively weak. Understanding of pathogenetic mechanisms involved is very limited, both for iNPH and the frequently detected neurodegenerative co-morbidity. Imaging diagnosis is in need of further improvement. An established journal dedicated directly to iNPH is not existing, and the publications on the subject are scattered, even in multiple high impact factor journals.

This research topic intends to establish a forum dedicated to iNPH to showcase recent research tendencies and achievements, and clinical results on an integrated basic-clinical research platform. Currently, molecular biology and genetics, advanced brain imaging techniques, refinement in neuropsychological investigations and their correlation with functional imaging, and other interdisciplinary approaches provide broad potential source for analysis that need a publication domain. As the diversity of opinion on iNPH is significant worldwide, a collection of multidisciplinary peer-reviewed publications can provide insight on the status of the major research obstacles in iNPH understanding and generate further hypotheses and solutions.

Thus, Topic Editors welcome translational and clinical original research publications, letters, commentaries, mini-reviews, and case reports of very high quality about, but not limited to, the following themes:

• iNPH demographics, burden to society and effects on medical care;
• Clinical diagnosis of iNPH and CSF dynamic tests;
• Neuropsychological evaluation of iNPH patients;
• Pathophysiology of iNPH;
• Molecular biology, genetic research and biomarkers of iNPH;
• Imaging research and diagnostic methods in iNPH;
• Evaluation of iNPH with neurodegenerative comorbidities;
• Electrophysiology in iNPH;
• Application of non-established and innovative research methods to iNPH;
• Surgical treatment of iNPH;
• Outcome of iNPH treatment;
• Rehabilitation in iNPH;
• Systematic reviews covering highly relevant topics will also be considered.