Complications of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy

Abstract

Hydrocephalus (Greek hydro, water, and kephale, head) is an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the ventricles of the brain (Abbott 2004; Cohen 1993a; Vogel et al. 2013). Symptoms and signs are commonly attributed to elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) (Cohen 1993a). Several classification schemes have been developed to describe hydrocephalus: obstructive (symptomatic) versus ex vacuo (cerebral atrophy), noncommunicating (obstruction between the ventricles and subarachnoid space) versus communicating (obstruction downstream from subarachnoid space), and congenital versus acquired (Tully and Dobyns 2014; Chakraborty et al. 2012; Corns and Martin 2012).