title: Intelligent shunt agent for gradual shunt removal.
abstract: When passive shunts, which divert cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the ventricles in the brain to another part of the body, were developed, apparently they change favourably the treatment of hydrocephalus, then it becomes of great importance to overcome the drawbacks of such shunts, and the gradual rising use of various shunts are accompanied by total shunt dependency with several problems and shortcomings has understandably become obvious among physicians as well as surgeons to rehabilitate and upgrade these shunts. There is a little use of carrying out arrested hydrocephalus which is subject to many aspects, ranging from problems of immediate clinical concern to the more unknowable areas of cerebrospinal fluid CSF dynamics, and it is not always as easy to define indications for arrested hydrocephalus or to evaluate the results of such treatment. However, it is important to attempt to define as precisely as possible a technique to measure the ability of arresting hydrocephalus, while current solutions estimations are based on long time procedure, evaluate parameters such as head growth, or ventricle sizes using CT or MRI scan. This paper proposes a new treatment approach and shunting system that helps improving diagnosis and treatment of Hydrocephalus patients. This approach suggests a developing and utilising an intelligent shunt agent (i-Shunt) that can learn from the patient's status and initiate a weaning program, and based on the response evaluation, the parameters of the shunt can be modified to accommodate the patient's needs. Therefore, a novel shunt could be build to satisfy the patient's need instantaneously by keeping the intracranial pressure (ICP) within normal levels, where it is actually directed toward shunt independency.
authors.affiliation: Electrical Engineering and Electronics Department, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Hill, UK. nael@liv.ac.uk
authors.forename: Nayel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al-Zubi
authors.forename: Abdulrahman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Kharabsheh
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Momani
authors.forename: Waleed
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Al-Nuaimy
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D007427:Intracranial Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted