A statement on the 76-year-old’s social media accounts stated that the condition exacerbated by recent concert performances and caused problems with hearing, vision and balance. Earlier this year, Joel took a fall mid-performance in Connecticut.
He is undergoing specific physical therapy under the doctor’s instructions and has been advised to avoid performing during the recovery period.
“I’m sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding,” Billy Joel said.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus: What it means
NPH happens when cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up in the ventricles, the area in the centre of the brain. This ultimately leads to the enlargement of the ventricles, at times with little or no increase in intracranial pressure (ICP), according to the Hydrocephalus Association, a non-profit raising awareness about the condition.
CSF cushions the brain and spinal cord.
In simple terms, the human body produces an appropriate amount of CSF on a daily basis under normal circumstances. The extra fluid gets reabsorbed back.
While the CSF gets produced in the normal amount in people suffering with NPH, it does not get absorbed properly and often results in accumulation. With the build-up of the fluid, the ventricles swell up to accommodate it, putting pressure on the surrounding tissues in the brain, it added.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, NPH occurs when the normal flow of CSF throughout the brain as well as the spinal cord gets blocked in some way. This can be due to “past injury, bleeding, infection, brain tumour, or surgery on the brain”.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus: Signs and symptoms
There are three major signs of NPH. These include:
- Gait instability (difficulty in walking): This usually ranges from mild imbalance to not having the ability to even stand or walk at all.
- Cognitive impairment: This includes loss of interest in daily activities, talking less, changes in mood, among others.
- Urinary incontinence: Patients have difficulty in controlling the bladder. In severe cases, they can even lose bladder control, which can lead to unintentional leakage of urine.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus: Treatment
It is often challenging to diagnose this brain disorder, but the real test is a lumbar puncture or spinal tap that drains out CSF, according to The Washington Post.
The most common available treatment for NPH is the surgical implantation of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt.
This medical device removes CSF from the brain and shunts it into the abdominal cavity in order to get it absorbed into the body.
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