title: Breast-related CSF shunt complications: literature review with illustrative case.
abstract: In this article, we discuss and classify breast-related ventriculoperitoneal (VP) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt complications, and provide a literature review. Shunt complications related to pre-existing breast implants comprise nearly half of the breast-related shunt complications reported thus far. We present a complication of shunt failure in a 61-year-old woman who had previously undergone mastectomies for breast cancer with implant reconstruction. Following shunting, she developed headaches, fever, and right-sided breast swelling and erythma consequent to breast implant rupture, distal shunt migration, and CSF pseudocyst. This case is unique in that it involved rupture of a breast implant from VP shunt insertion. For complication avoidance, neurosurgeons should be aware of the potential pitfalls in shunting patients with breast implants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, California 95817, USA. rudolph.schrot@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Rudolph J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Schrot
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ramos-Boudreau
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Boggan
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D018427:Breast Implants / Q000009:adverse effects; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016462:Mammaplasty; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D017287:Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt / Q000009:adverse effects*