NASA has long understood that abnormal amounts of cerebrospinal fluid accumulate deep in the brains of astronauts exposed to microgravity. In 1983, the space agency received a patent for a “ventricular catheter” designed to be inserted into the brains of astronauts, to relieve the pressure.
And since then, the space agency has funded research into the problem. A new study has found that astronauts in space for six or more months develop the worst hydrocephalus, meaning they had the most enlarged ventricles, the reservoirs for spinal fluid nestled deep in the brain. After the initial six months, the effect seemed to plateau and stayed there for a long time, even after the men and women returned to earth gravity.
The new study found that it appeared to take at least three years for the pressure to equalize. And if an astronaut returned to space with partially recovered ventricles, the person returned to the old plateau, starting the recovery process all over again.
