Endoscopic ventricular fenestration of intracranial fluid cysts.

The authors report 5 patients with paraventricular or intraventricular fluid cysts, successfully treated by fenestration into the ventricular system using a neuroendoscopic technique. The series includes three paraventricular malformative CSF cysts, a cyst of the velum interpositum and a cystic astrocytoma with small, deeply located and unresectable mural nodule. In all cases the endoscopic fenestration was the unique treatment and allowed to avoid the definitive ventriculoperitoneal shunt. The surgical endoscopic technique and the postoperative radiological findings which indirectly confirm the patency of the fenestration are discussed. The authors conclude that endoscopic ventricular fenestration represents the treatment of choice for most paraventricular and intraventricular CSF collections.