Neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomy in patients less than 1 year old.
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.
Buxton
N
N
Department of Neurosurgery, Nottingham University Department of Child Health, University Hospital, Nottingham, UK.
Macarthur
D
D
Mallucci
C
C
Punt
J
J
Vloeberghs
M
M
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