Cerebrospinal fluid shunt complications.

We report our experience with cerebrospinal fluid shunt procedures performed on 306 patients between 1983 and 1993. Patients were between the ages of one day and 15 years (average 14.9 months) on admission. Three hundred and thirty-six shunt placements and 274 revisions were done. The first complication occurred in the first postoperative month in 52 patients and within the first six months following surgery in 97 patients. Age was determined as a statistically significant factor in only infection and the slit ventricle syndrome (SVS). Shunt types and systems were not significant factors causing complications. The level of consciousness of the patients at the time of surgery influenced the rate of complications; patients with impaired consciousness at the time of surgery had higher complication rates than those operated on in a normal state of consciousness (41% and 8.5%, respectively).