Recurrent meningitis associated with intragastric migration of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt catheter in a patient with normal-pressure hydrocephalus.

A 68-year-old man had ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement for normal-pressure hydrocephalus. Three and a half years later, he had repeated episodes of seizures and ophthalmoplegia. He eventually died of recurrent acute bacterial meningitis. At autopsy the distal segment of the shunt catheter was found inside the stomach, a condition believed to be responsible for the repeated attacks of bacterial meningitis.