Shunt Hardware and Surgical Technique

Abstract

Hydrocephalus is one of the most common complications of virtually any insult to the neonatal, infant, or child’s nervous system. It occurs in approximately 1 in 2000 births, and is associated with approximately one-third of all congenital malformations of the nervous system [15]. It is also a common complication of intraventricular hemorrhage, brain tumors, infections, and head injury [4]. The etiology of hydrocephalus in 345 children undergoing a first shunt insertion in the randomized shunt design trial [31,32] has been analyzed in detail elsewhere [33]. The median corrected age of the patients was 55 days, indicating that this is very much a problem seen most commonly in infancy. An estimated 33 000 shunts are placed in patients of all ages annually in the United States, with an estimated shunt prevalence of more than 56 000 in children less than 18 years old [15].