Lumbar reservoir for intrathecal chemotherapy.
The Ommaya ventricular reservoir has been the standby of intrathecal chemotherapy for more than a decade, in spite of some specific drawbacks. A general anaesthetic is often required. The scalp must be shaven. Ventricular puncture may not always be easy and keeping the ventricular catheter patent is sometimes difficult. Hence the author has adapted a commercially available lumbar peritoneal shunt system to function as a lumbar intrathecal reservoir. The procedure is simple and can be performed expeditiously under local anaesthesia. To date, eight cases have received intrathecal chemotherapy by this means.
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002404:Catheterization / Q000379:methods; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007278:Injections, Spinal; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011859:Radiography
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents