title: Neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomy in patients less than 1 year old.
abstract: A series of neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomies in children less than 1 year old is reported. Twenty-seven patients underwent the procedure with 21 (77%) failing within a mean of 1.36 months of the procedure. Nineteen were subsequently shunted. The presence or absence of flow through the ventriculostomy and the size of the lateral ventricles on post-operative imaging were not an indicator of success or failure. Only 4 (15%) had a complication of the procedure. Although the majority fail, approximately 1/3 are spared the added morbidity and mortality of having a shunt. With such a low morbidity and zero mortality the procedure has many benefits over shunting. Consequently, neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomy is used in this institution, where possible, rather than a shunt.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Nottingham University Department of Child Health, University Hospital, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Buxton
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Macarthur
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mallucci
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Punt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vloeberghs
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000601:surgery*; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts / Q000009:adverse effects; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects; D004868:Equipment Failure; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000601:surgery*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017211:Treatment Failure