This article is part of the supplement: 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida .

Oral presentation

Shunting in AD increases ventricular CSF protein levels

Tom Saul¹ , Dawn McGuire², Martha Mayo³, Jere Fellmann⁴, Joan Carvalho⁵, Gerald D Silverberg⁵ and Jonathan Williams⁶

¹  POB 372 Moss Beach, CA, 94038, USA

²  Avigen, Inc., 1301 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, CA 94502, USA

³  Genitope Corporation, 6900 Dumbarton Circle, Building 1, Fremont, CA 94555, USA

⁴  Acologix, Inc., 3960 Point Eden Way Hayward, CA 94545, USA

⁵  Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

⁶  OPTIMA, Radcliffe Infirmary, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6HA, UK

author email corresponding author email

from 51^st Annual Meeting of the Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida
Heidelberg, Germany. 27–30 June 2007

Cerebrospinal Fluid Research 2007, 4(Suppl 1):S5doi:10.1186/1743-8454-4-S1-S5

Published:	20 December 2007

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

Defects in CSF circulation may impair clearance of toxic metabolites (i.e. amyloid-beta peptides – Aβ), from the brain via interstitial fluid (ISF) and so contribute to pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD). On this view, constant drainage of CSF via a low-flow ventriculo-peritoneal shunt could facilitate clearance of toxic moieties from ISF and so slow disease progression. We tested this possibility in a prospective, randomized, double-blind controlled, multi-centre trial. We have reported elsewhere that patients with active shunts showed less cognitive decline than controls. Here, we analyse the effects of shunting on CSF protein concentrations in AD patients.