title: Management of proximal shunt obstruction. Technical note.
abstract: Proximal shunt obstruction or obstruction of the ventricular catheter may present with signs and symptoms of shunt failure with either no cerebrospinal fluid flow or a falsely low intracranial pressure (ICP) upon shunt tap. The author reports a technique for lowering the ICP and for measuring the pressure in patients with such obstruction by cannulation of the reservoir and ventricular catheter to penetrate into the ventricle with a 3 1/2-in. No. 22 spinal needle. The findings in 20 cases in which this approach was utilized are summarized.
authors: Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors: C C
authors: CC
authors: Duncan
mesh_terms: D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts; D004868:Equipment Failure; D006801:Humans