Metastasis via ventriculoperitoneal shunt in patients with medulloblastoma

Abstract

A ventriculoperitoneal shunt was routinely inserted in all patients with posterior fossa tumors and hydrocephalus 7-10 days prior to craniotomy. Forty-one patients with medulloblastoma were treated with this fashion and of these, 4 metastasized through the shunt and died of systemic metastases without evidence of recurrent tumor in their CNS. A Millipore filter which can be incorporated in the shunt was used during the past 18 mo. in an effort to prevent metastatic spread through the shunt.