Complications of Ventriculovenous Shunts for Control of Hydrocephalus

Abstract

SINCE 1957, when Pudenz et al.¹ successfully shunted cerebrospinal fluid from the cerebral ventricles into the right atrium, a large number of patients have been subjected to ventriculovenous shunts. Various types of valves to allow unidirectional flow have been devised. The catheter attached to the inflow end of the valve is placed in the lateral ventricle, and the outflow catheter placed either in the right atrium or at the junction of the superior vena cava with the right atrium. The control of hydrocephalus with this form of shunting procedure has had wide use and is considered by many neurosurgeons² to . . .