This article is part of the supplement: 50th Annual Meeting of the Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida .

Oral presentation

The accuracy of ventricular catheter placement: does it influence shunt revision rates?

Stephen Price , Tom Santarius, Hugh Richards, Gemma Whiting, Husam Georges and Rodney Laing

Academic Neurosurgery Unit, Box 167, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, CB2 2QQ, UK

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from 50th Annual Meeting of the Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida
Cambridge, UK. 30 August – 2 September 2006

Cerebrospinal Fluid Research 2006, 3(Suppl 1):S8doi:10.1186/1743-8454-3-S1-S8

Published:	21 December 2006

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

Ventricular catheter blockage is the commonest indication for shunt revision. Placement of a ventricular catheter in a region free of choroid plexus prolongs catheter survival. Positioning the tip of the ventricular catheter in the ipsilateral frontal horn anterior to the foramen of Munro is commonly considered the optimum position and is the standard position for catheter placement in our unit. Yet ventricular catheter placement is performed blindly and often misses the optimum position. In this study we aim to see how accurate we are in the placement of ventricular catheters and see whether the good positioning can reduce the rate of shunt revision.