Significance of intravascular and intracardiac movement of the cardiac catheter in ventriculo-atrial shunts (review of 655 cases).

Proper placement of ventriculo-atrial shunts can be complicated by three phenomena: 1. Movement of the cardiac catheter intravascularly into the internal jugular vein as noted on chest X-ray. 2. Movement of the cardiac catheter during intraoperative X-ray leading to blurring and hence problems in accurate localization. 3. No sign on X-ray of the catheter tip or even of the catheter itself despite previous X-ray visualization and good function, a problem to be obviated by better radiopaque markings.