Scrotal migration of a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt: report of a case.
A seven-month-old male infant developed a hydrocele four weeks after the surgical insertion of a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt. The shunt tip in the scrotum was palpable, visible on transillumination, and evident on abdominal X ray. The hydrocele persisted after the surgical repositioning of the shunt tip via a reopening of the abdominal wound. The shunt tip returned to the scrotum one week later, supporting the theory that a flow of cerebrospinal fluid into the patent processus vaginalis creates a trough effect, thus drawing the mobile shunt tip into the center of the trough. After an inguinal herniotomy and the reduction of the shunt tip, the hydrocele subsided.
Wong
C W
CW
Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.
D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000009:adverse effects; D005548:Foreign-Body Migration / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012611:Scrotum; D006848:Testicular Hydrocele / Q000209:etiology; D017287:Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt / Q000009:adverse effects*