Early shunt complications in 46 children with hydrocephalus

• Autor(a) principal: Braga,Moisés Heleno Vieira
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Carvalho,Gervásio Teles C. de, Brandão,Rafael Augusto Castro Santiago, Lima,Franklin Bernardes Faraj de, Costa,Bruno Silva
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2009000200019
• topic: hydrocephalus; hydrocephalus valve; ventriculoperitoneal shunt; ventriculoatrial shunt; early complications

OBJECTIVE: To determine the causes of early shunt complications in 46 children with hydrocephalus. METHOD: A retrospective study was conducted on 46 children submitted to ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery between February 2005 and February 2007. RESULTS: Thirteen (28%) patients presented complications, which were due to infection in 9 (69%) and to malfunction of the shunt system in 4 (31%).The mean number of surgical procedures performed on patients who presented complications was 2.8 per patient, with a total of 46 surgeries in this group. All patients with infectious complications were identified during their hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Infection was the most common complication. The infection rate was proportional to the length of hospital stay. All patients with hydrocephalus due to tumors or myelomeningocele presented complications. A higher incidence of infections was observed in children older than 2 years.