Ultrasound determination of cerebrospinal fluid shunt patency

1975 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 728-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Flitter ◽  
William A. Buchheit ◽  
Frederick Murtagh ◽  
Marc S. Lapayowker

✓ A technique employing a Doppler ultrasound flowmeter in determining cerebrospinal fluid shunt patency is described. The technique has proven to be a valuable aid in the evaluation of the patient in whom shunt function is in question.

1989 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Ishiwata ◽  
Yasuhiro Chiba ◽  
Toshinori Yamashita ◽  
Gakuji Gondo ◽  
Kaoru Ide ◽  
...  

✓ Surface cooling and thermistor recording over shunt tubing was used in 23 studies of cerebrospinal fluid shunt patency in 19 patients with lumboperitoneal shunts and normal-pressure hydrocephalus. Shunt patency was shown by downward reflection of the recording trace similar to that obtained for ventriculoperitoneal shunts. Obstruction was demonstrated by a flat-line recording or an upward deflection.


1978 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 398-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Savoiardo ◽  
Carlo L. Solero ◽  
Angelo Passerini ◽  
Franco Migliavacca

✓ Determination of cerebrospinal fluid shunt patency with water-soluble contrast medium is a simple, rapid, reliable, and safe technique. Since September, 1974, the authors performed 113 examinations. With the Spitz-Holter valve, only the atrial catheter can be studied, but, with the Pudenz valve and with the shunting devices that have a double-dome reservoir, both the proximal and the distal catheter can be visualized. Through the ventricular catheter a full ventriculographic study can be made, demonstrating ventricular size, malposition of the catheter, and the lesion that caused the hydrocephalus, or its evolution. The problem of collapsed ventricles, in which clinical and “manual” evaluation of the flushing device can give misleading findings, is emphasized. The injection of the atrial or peritoneal catheter in the pathological cases demonstrated its blockage, level of disconnection, malposition, sleeve, or cyst formation. Computerized tomography has only slightly decreased the number of these studies: when the ventricles are large, the examination with water-soluble contrast medium is still needed to demonstrate the exact level of malfunction. This demonstration has decreased the number of the total revisions or complete changes of shunting systems, eliminating some unnecessary changes of normally functioning catheters.


1981 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodger Fagerburg ◽  
Byungse Shu ◽  
Helen R. Buckley ◽  
Bennett Lorber ◽  
John Karian

✓ A 57-year-old woman underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement for noncommunicating hydrocephalus. She required several shunt revisions over a 2-year period for recurrent hydrocephalus. The shunt was subsequently found to be obstructed by growth of the saprophytic fungus, Paecilomyces variotii, an infrequent human pathogen. Paecilomyces infections have caused complications associated with prosthetic cardiac valves and synthetic lens implantation; this is the first reported association with a cerebrospinal fluid shunt.


1980 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Wald ◽  
Robert L. McLaurin

✓ Twenty patients with documented cerebrospinal fluid shunt infections were treated with daily intraventricular injections of methicillin, cephalothin, or gentamicin without removal of the shunt or external ventricular drainage. Periodic determinations of intraventricular antibiotic concentration revealed significant levels in relation to the established minimum inhibitory concentration in all cases.


1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvin Kuruc ◽  
Salvador Treves ◽  
Keasley Welch ◽  
Denise Merlino

✓ Flow of cerebrospinal fluid through a surgically implanted valve may be estimated by analyzing the disappearance curve resulting from the injection of a radiotracer into the valve. The standard method for estimating flow assumes an exponential disappearance of the tracer from the valve. This method models the valve as a single well-mixed compartment. Experimental evidence, showing that estimates of flow were dependent upon the site of injection, is at variance with this assumption. An alternative method of analyzing the disappearance curves, based on the area to height ratio (A/H) of the curves, was found to be more consistent with the experimental evidence and resulted in greater precision than the exponential method. It was concluded that optimal results are obtained using the A/H method with a fixed injection technique.


1995 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph H. Piatt

✓ A minor modification of the technique of peritoneal cerebrospinal fluid shunt insertion allows more anatomical closure of the abdominal wound and may protect the shunt from contamination by superficial abdominal wound infection.


1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 644-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Di Lorenzo ◽  
Pierpaolo Lunardi ◽  
Aldo Fortuna

✓ The clinical features and pathology of granule cell hypertrophy of the cerebellum (Lhermitte-Duclos disease) are described in a 30-year-old man. The patient, who underwent successful surgery, is the eighth reported survivor of this disease. Whether the disease is neoplastic or dysplastic is still unknown, but the lesion has growth potential, and consequently the proper treatment is surgical resection. A cerebrospinal fluid shunt was only temporarily effective in this case.


1976 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 580-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Dale Everett ◽  
Theodore C. Eickhoff ◽  
Richard H. Simon

✓ The clinical and laboratory findings in six cases of anaerobic diphtheroid infection of cerebrospinal fluid shunts are described. These organisms have been infrequently reported as a cause of shunt infections but our data indicate that such infections may be more common than currently appreciated. Propionibacterium species are common contaminants of cerebrospinal fluid specimens, but when isolated from the spinal fluid of a patient with a shunt who has symptoms and signs compatible with infection, the organism should not be dismissed as a contaminant. Fever was a constant finding frequently accompanied by signs of central nervous system dysfunction. Spinal fluid pleocytosis was usually limited to 1 to 200 cells and protein and sugar values were variable. The organisms grow slowly, therefore spinal fluid cultures should be held for at least 14 days before they are reported as negative.


1979 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest B. Visconti ◽  
Georges Peter

✓ The successful use of vancomycin is reported in two children with shunt infections due to Staphylococcus epidermidis which failed to respond to shunt removal. The previously reported experience with this drug is reviewed. The use of vancomycin should be considered in cases of shunt infections due to susceptible micro-organisms and refractory to other therapeutic measures.


1982 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 597-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold J. Hoffman ◽  
E. Bruce Hendrick ◽  
Robin P. Humphreys ◽  
Edward A. Armstrong

✓ Suprasellar arachnoid cysts, although rare, are now being found with increasing frequency with the help of the computerized tomography (CT) scanner. Forty-six cases have been reviewed from the literature, and the authors add eight patients seen at their institution during the past 6 years. This latter group have all been diagnosed by CT scan combined with an injection of metrizamide through an implanted diversionary cerebrospinal fluid shunt. Patients in whom the suprasellar arachnoid cyst had produced hydrocephalus were treated by communicating the cyst with the ventricular system via a transcallosal route, with very satisfactory results.


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