Fetal therapy for congenital hydrocephalus—where we came from and where we are going

Despite unfavorable outcomes during the early experience with in utero intervention for congenital hydrocephalus, improvements in prenatal diagnosis, patient selection, and fetal surgery techniques have led to a renewed interest in fetal intervention for congenital hydrocephalus. Research studies and clinical evidence shows that postnatal cerebrospinal fluid diversion to release intraventricular pressure and cerebral mantle compression usually arrives late to avoid irreversible brain damage. Make sense to decompress those lateral ventricles as soon as possible during the intrauterine life when hydrocephalus is antenatally detected. We present a historical review of research in animal models as well as clinical experience in the last decades, traveling until the last years when some research fetal therapy groups have made significant progress in recapitulating the prenatal intervention for fetuses with congenital obstructive hydrocephalus.