Percutaneous placement of the peripheral catheter to the subclavian vein for a VA shunt

Abstract

Hydrocephalus is a common neurosurgical pathology that affects people of all ages and especially the pediatric population. It can be very often a life threatening condition that pediatric neurosurgeons must deal with. Therefore a number of CSF diversion techniques have been established. The gold standard treatment currently is the placement of a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt. Because of hydrocephalus being a lifelong condition, it is almost in daily practice dealing with cases of shunt failures for a number of reasons. Herewith we present a 4 year old child with multiple ventriculo-peritoneal shunt revision surgeries and ventriculo-atrial failure due to distal catheter malfunction that was treated with percutaneous placement of the peripheral catheter in the subclavian vein.

Keywords

• ventriculo-atrial shunt
• hydrocephalus
• percutaneous
• subclavian vein