The relationship of ventricular shunt complications to the chronic overdrainage syndrome: a follow-up study.

A follow-up study of 64 hydrocephalic children with a ventriculo-atrial or ventriculoperitoneal shunt is presented to correlate clinical manifestations of chronic ventricular overdrainage with the aetiology of ventricular shunt complications. A clinical, radiographic and CT scan examination combined with the results of the continuously monitored proximal shunt pressure in the mobilised patient was performed to reveal the incidence and the pathophysiological mechanism of the slit ventricle syndrome. The clinical and therapeutical consequences are discussed.