BACKGROUND Although about 80% of properly diagnosed patients with hydrocephalus improve after implantation of any model of shunt, the remaining 20% may develop further complications because of inadequate shunt performance. Therefore, hydrocephalus shunts require careful independent laboratory evaluation. METHOD Computer supported shunt testing, based on the new International Standard Organisa...

The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of endoscopy in the treatment of post-shunt placement for slit ventricle syndrome (SVS). Endoscopic surgery was performed on 18 patients with SVS between October 2004 and December 2012. Sex, age, causes of the hydrocephalus, ventricular size and imaging data were collected and analyzed. All patients were divided into two groups according to ve...

OBJECTIVE The authors report the first documented case of laparoscopically induced ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt failure. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Laparoscopic surgery has become a preferred method of accessing and treating a variety of intraperitoneal pathology. Surgeons can expect to encounter patients who have previously undergone placement of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts who present ...

BACKGROUND Thoracic complications of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts have been extensively reported in the literature. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) hydrothorax without catheter migration, however, has been rarely described and poorly understood. CASE DESCRIPTION We describe development of pleural effusion and respiratory distress in a 3-year-old boy with no evidence of VP shunt catheter displac...

AIM Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt insertion remains the most popular method for the treatment of hydrocephalus despite its associated complications. We assessed VP shunt survival in a group of patients who had developed hydrocephalus following cranial surgery. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective charts review was done over a 10-year period at our institution. Kaplan-Meier survival curves a...

patients with coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction have high mortality with non surgical (medical) treatment. coronary artery bypass grafting improves survival and the quality of life. recently, revascularization without cardiopulmonary bypass has been presented as a viable alternative. the aim of this study was to survey the result of coronary artery bypass grafting with of...

In 2013, clinical and basic science research has rolled the dice further to extend our understanding to hydrocephalus. A group of research team at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, led by neurosurgeon, Joseph Madsen, has published the laboratory investigation results on vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF, and showed its potential effect on the development of experimen...

There is no level I evidence to indicate whether placement of a shunt is effective in the management of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH), because no trial has as yet compared the placement of a shunt versus no shunt in a randomized controlled manner. We started recruiting patients into a prospective double-blind randomized controlled study aiming to provide class I evidence suppo...

Various types of shunt valves have been developed during the past 50 years, most of which can be classified into the following categories: (1) fixed differential pressure valves; (2) fixed differential pressure (DP) valves with an antisiphon mechanism; (3) programmable DP valves; (4) programmable DP valves with an antisiphon mechanism; and (5) programmable antisiphon valves. When considering th...

BACKGROUND Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt insertion remains the mainstay of treatment for hydrocephalus despite a high rate of complications. The predictors of shunt malfunction have been studied mostly in pediatric patients. In this study, we report our 11-year experience with VP shunts in adult patients with hydrocephalus. We also assess the various factors affecting shunt survival in a deve...