[Critical evaluation of neurosurgical methods of treatment in so-called normal pressure hydrocephalus (author's transl)].

This retrospective investigation of 55 patients, who had been treated with shunts, on account of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is an evaluation of the results in relation to the type of shunt and the complications developing from it. Sixty per cent of these patients showed an objective improvement after diversion of the CSF, 44 per cent had complications, which were fatal in 9 per cent. The patients who had a primary theco-perintoneal shunt showed a greater amount of improvement and fewer severe complications after the shunt. The successfully treated complications were not incompatible with a post-operative improvement.