An abandoned procedure for treating hydrocephalus is being revived with the help of new instrumentation at Cook County Hospital and Hektoen Institute for Medical Research, Chicago.
Some 50 infants and small children have undergone the 20-minute operation, which requires only local anesthetic, Anthony J. Raimondi, MD, told The Journal.
No complications attributable to the procedure have resulted in more than a year of use.
It involves establishment of an artificial drainage system to carry cranial vault fluid into the abdominal cavity. At base, it is the same technique originally devised for the purpose some ten years ago.
Vena-Caval Approach
Because of problems in pressure change, reflux, and tubing plugs, abdominal shunts were abandoned in favor of a veno-caval approach, Dr. Raimondi said."But this venous route, it was discovered, carries the possible complications of septicemia, and plugging of the superior vena cava, and presents threading difficulties." In addition, only one