Reservoirs for Intraventricular Chemotherapy

Abstract

IN recent years it has become increasingly popular to place plastic reservoirs of the type described by Ratcheson and Ommaya¹ beneath the scalp with a cannula running from the reservoir to the lateral cerebral ventricle through a burr hole in the skull. Such a device allows easy access to cerebrospinal fluid for sampling, and for injection of drugs that do not cross the blood–brain barrier. At least one group is placing such subcutaneous reservoirs routinely for prophylactic treatment of the central nervous system in acute leukemia,² and at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, subcutaneous reservoirs are placed in all patients with . . .