The recently updated Japanese guidelines draw attention to a specific MRI pattern of disproportionately enlarged subarachnoid space hydrocephalus (DESH), believed to be pathognomonic of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). This chapter discusses why establishing the diagnosis of NPH remains a challenge fifty years after its classic description. The original diagnosis of NPH relied upon the presence of mild dementia, gait, and urinary difficulties (Hakim's triad) seen in association with ventriculomegaly on pneumo-encephalogram. More sensitive cognitive evaluation of iNPH patients requires specific tests for the assessment of subcortical frontal lobe deficits such as the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Stroop test, Grooved Pegboard, Trail Making A and B Test, and digit span test. This diagnostic test provides information about cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics and predicts outcome. It consists in either removal of CSF accompanied by pre and post functional evaluation, or an infusion (bolus or continuous) test.

There are a number of neurological diseases which have an effect on bowel function. This chapter provides an overview of gastrointestinal (GI) physiology, with reference to the hindgut and pelvic floor. It addresses the problems caused by common neurological diseases. The intra-abdominal GI tract is varied, and divided into the organs of stomach, small intestine and large intestine. Bowel dysfunction affects approximately 80% of those with spinal cord injury (SCI) and causes more of a problem than urinary and sexual dysfunction in a third of individuals with SCI. Neurological diseases such as SCI or MS frequently impair CNS control of the gut. The difference between the neural control systems for bowel and bladder is underlined by the differing effects of such diseases on the two systems. Supraconal SCI tends to cause difficulty with evacuation of feces in addition to fecal incontinence, but predominantly difficulty with urinary continence.

Nontraumatic spinal emergencies can be caused by a wide spectrum of conditions including infection, hemorrhage, and neoplasm. The most common findings in patients with spinal emergencies are pain, motor deficits, sensory deficits, abnormal reflexes, and urinary dysfunction. Acute back pain is the only symptom of catastrophic spinal emergencies such as spinal hemorrhage or infection. Sudden paralysis can result from trauma, cord infarction, or hemorrhage. Even though a thorough sensory examination in the emergency department is often difficult and unreliable, complexes of sensory and motor abnormalities are helpful. As a result of the anatomical distribution of upper and lower motor neurons, acute spinal cord lesions almost always present with hyperreflexia. The mechanism of urinary incontinence depends on the type of lesion. Spinal cord emergencies frequently go unrecognized initially or are misdiagnosed even with such obvious symptoms as the inability to walk or bladder function failure.