Complications of Shunt Systems

I'll be giving and receiving hugs tonight at Murray Park at our WALK event! See you there!!

We have GOT to find a cure!!! A shunt is NOT a cure. Yes, it's better than nothing, but a shunt life is stressful and painful. 

An estimated 50% of shunts in the pediatric population fail within the first 2 years. 

Complications of Shunt Systems






THIS is so cool!!! I've watched YouTube videos of the ETV procedure (my last brain surgery in college), but these are actually my friend's ventricles! And just like Jamie, my ETV is still open but it's not enough to keep my CSF balanced well (not too much and not too little). Jamie has a shunt, too. Jamie Wright, thanks so much for sharing!!

That little crease on the right side is the opening into part of my lateral ventricle. The ventricles normally open up and stretch out as the CSF builds up (such as after having my shunt clamped for 6+ hours, as I did here). For whatever reason though my ventricles are stiff and do not enlarge significantly, even when under pressure. That fluffy stuff on the left side is choroid plexus, which produces CSF

Here they have taken the endoscope (camera) down into my third ventricle. You are looking at the floor of the third ventricle, which is where they will make the new opening for CSF to go through.

There are multiple (very small) tools you can use to make the opening in the floor of the third ventricle. He re they are enlarging the opening they made using a small balloon which they carefully pull through the opening to enlarge it. They do this to try to reduce the likelihood of the hole closing or scarring over. 

Here is an after picture showing the hole that was made in the bottom of my third ventricle. This allows CSF to flow from my lateral ventricle into my third ventricle and then directly out into the space around the brain where it is re-absorbed into the blood. This bypasses the cerebral aqueduct which is a common site of obstruction in the flow of CSF (and a common cause of hydrocephalus). In the video you could actually see pulsations as CSF flowed through the new opening. This is normally a good sign that it is working, so it is hard to say why mine ended up not working.

That red structure running along the bottom of the picture was one of my major sources of anxiety over having an ETV. It is the basilar artery which supplies blood to the brain stem. It is rare for it to be damaged during an ETV but you can see how close it is to the opening they made.

Here is another view of the inside of my ventricles. In the video I could tell they were flushing saline into my ventricles to open them up a bit. In the video you can see the ventricular space on the right open up and then collapse back down between flushes. In most cases the ventricles are relatively stretched out from the build up of CSF so that they stay open pretty well on their own.