Infantile hydrocephalus: long-term results of surgical therapy.

A personal series of 170 children who underwent 636 operative procedures for hydrocephalus have been followed for 5-12 years. The results of treatment have been analyzed by etiology, years of follow-up, and summarized generally. 5-year survival was 83.5%, current survival is 78.8%. Normal intelligence was found in 63.4% of 5-year survivors, in 64.2% of current survivors. The procedural risk for early shunt infection was 5.8%, while 6.5% of the patients developed a late infection. There is no difference in results based upon measurement of the initial thickness of the cerebral mantle. The mean of the cumulative shunt procedures per patient is 3.72 +/- (SEM) 0.37, and for 5-year survivors it is 3.85 +/- (SEM) 0.39.