Together towards knowledge

Neural Tube Defect (NTD) is a severe pathology of abnormal development of the brain and and spinal cord during human fetal development. Two main manifestations of this pathology are spina bifida a...

Neural Tube Defect (NTD) is a severe pathology of abnormal development of the brain and and spinal cord during human fetal development. Two main manifestations of this pathology are spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Since 2005 World Health Organisation (WHO) does not consider NTD pathologies to be the reason for pregnancy abortion as they are treatable now. However, the knowledge about the best practices to help the patients with hydrocephalus is still incomplete. The knowledge should be improved in the areas of treating the patients with hydrocephalus who have become adults. The aim of this project is to improve professional knowledge of those contributing to the research directed to improve the quality of life of the patients. This is represented by following objectives: 1. To exchange knowledge on the research practices in the field of personalisation of hydrocephalus treatments as this is a rare disease and there is only scarce information available. 2. To develop a framework for further cooperation projects in this field. This is a pilot project which is aimed at developing methodologies for the cooperation in this field and developing skills to use in further projects.

- Collating and preparing genetic and imaging datasets for preliminary analysis to in order to assess whether treatments influence patient's brain ageing and explore such innovative way of imaging data analysis. - Analysing genetic data provided for the project by Kelluke using the software provided by Estonian Biobank. - Preliminary statistical analysis of the imaging data being analysed by the Neurosalience algorithms revealing whether the rate of brain ageing can be connected to disease progression in hydrocephalus was performed. The analysis has proven feasibility of such experiments in future on larger datasets. - Exchanging the experiences and knowledge achieved during the project in order to improve treatment and care of the hydrocephalus patients in partnering countries. - Presentation on the International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus annual international conference.

This is a pilot project which is aimed at developing methodologies for the cooperation in this field and developing skills to use in further projects. Further after successful completion of the project we the project was extended to include larger datasets and more partners by implementing the practices developed in this project. Preliminary analysis of genetic dataset of interest in this field was completed and ready for further research. Project results also included representing project results at the annual conference of International Federation of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.