Doctor Explains Billy Joel Health Diagnosis

Last month, legendary singer Billy Joel abruptly canceled his tour amid a battle with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH). Now, a prominent doctor has offered an explanation of the legendary artist's health diagnosis, offering perhaps a bit of optimism.

During the most recent episode of his podcast "Chasing Life" with CNN, prominent neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta provided a bit of an explanation about the condition that Billy Joel is currently dealing with.

"So imagine your brain and your spinal cord and you got this fluid that is constantly bathing it. That's the cerebrospinal fluid," Dr. Gupta explained on the podcast. "And we are continuously making this cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF. It bathes the brain and the spinal cord and then it gets reabsorbed into the bloodstream. Hydrocephalus is basically an abnormal buildup of that fluid."

"So there's these normal fluid-filled spaces in the brain called ventricles. When you get a CT scan or some sort of brain imaging, you see what normal ventricle size looks like, and then you see hydrocephalus, where those normal ventricles look plump, look swollen, look filled with fluid."

Dr. Gupta explained that the type of hydrocephalus that Billy Joel has is called "normal pressure hydrocephalus," in large part because the pressure has built up over time. But there's no clear answer as to what causes it.

"Why does it happen? Well, sometimes we just don't know. Sometimes it's because the surrounding brain shrinks a bit and this fluid is sort of filling in that space. Sometimes it is because there is old head trauma, infection, tumors, perhaps a complication from surgery. But again, a lot of times we don't now," Dr. Gupta said.

However, there are a few notable symptoms of hydrocephalus that Billy Joel has dealt with.

"We do know that it can cause specific symptoms. In fact, classic, what we call triad of symptoms, three symptoms, which are difficulty with walking, difficulty with cognition, and difficulty with bladder control. And these are some of the symptoms that Billy Joel has," Dr. Gupta told CNN.

Gupta also explained that because of the rarity of normal pressure hydrocephalus and the symptoms, it often gets confused with other diseases or disorders like dementia or Parkinson's.

Though Gupta did share a telling message about Billy Joel's diagnosis as he revealed that unlike some of those other disorders, normal pressure hydrocephalus is potentially treatable.

"Now, one thing I will tell you is that normal pressure hydrocephalus is not a common condition, but it's a mimic of other conditions. Someone comes into the office with cognition problems. A lot of times you may think, well, this is dementia. You get a brain scan, and you find, in fact, that the patient has normal pressure hydrocephalus, potentially treatable," Gupta said. "Sometimes patients come in with questionable Parkinson's disease. They get a brain scan and they're found to have normal pressure hydrocephalus, potentially treatable. You can see the pattern here. So again, not common, but potentially a treatable condition that mimics other existing conditions."

Obviously, we all wish Billy Joel a quick and thorough recovery.