Paul Chumas

Comparison of infection rate with the use of antibiotic-impregnated vs standard extraventricular drainage devices: a prospective, randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND External ventricular drainage (EVD) catheters provide reliable and accurate means of monitoring intracranial pressure and alleviating elevated pressures via drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF infections occur in approximately 9% of patients. Antibiotic-impregnated (AI) EVD catheters were developed with the goal of reducing the occurrence of EVD catheter-related CSF infections and their associated complications. OBJECTIVE To present an international, prospective, randomized, open-label trial to evaluate infection incidence of AI vs standard EVD catheters. METHODS Infection was defined as (1) proven infection, positive CSF culture and positive Gram stain or (2) suspected infection: (A) positive CSF culture with no organisms identified on initial Gram stain; (B) negative CSF culture with a gram-positive or -negative stain; (C) CSF leukocytosis with a white blood cell/red blood cell count >0.02. RESULTS Four hundred thirty-four patients underwent implantation of an EVD catheter. One hundred seventy-six patients in the AI-EVD cohort and 181 in the standard EVD catheter cohort were eligible for evaluation of infection. The 2 groups were similar in all clinical characteristics. Proven infection was documented in 9 (2.5%) patients (AI: 4 [2.3%] vs standard: 5 [2.8%], P = 1.0). Suspected infection was documented in 31 (17.6%) patients receiving AI and 37 (20.4%) patients receiving standard EVD catheters, P = .504. Duration of time to suspected infection was prolonged in the AI cohort (8.8 ± 6.1 days) compared with the standard EVD cohort (4.6 ± 4.2 days), P = .002. CONCLUSION AI-EVD catheters were associated with an extremely low rate of catheter-related infections. AI catheters were not associated with risk reduction in EVD infection compared to standard catheters. Use of AI-EVD catheters is a safe option for a wide variety of patients requiring CSF drainage and monitoring, but the efficacy of AI-EVD catheters was not supported in this trial.

Hydrocephalus : what's new?

“Not a lot” may be the general impression, but then it is easy to forget that, until the advent of shunts (almost 50 years ago), hydrocephalus was usually fatal. It is probably true to say that further fundamental advances have been slow in coming, but this has not been through lack of endeavour. What has occurred over the years is an understanding of how shunts malfunction (and technical attempts to combat this, including the development of endoscopic treatment for certain types of hydrocephalus) and a greater awareness of the metabolic and hydrodynamic changes that occur in the brain as a result of hydrocephalus (fig 1). Although perhaps overdue, reasonable studies on long term follow up of patients with hydrocephalus are now becoming available. Figure 1 Number of publications on hydrocephalus between 1966 and 1998. Taken, with permission, from J P McAllister, Neurol Res 2000;22:3. The prevalence of congenital and infantile hydrocephalus is between 0.48 and 0.81 per 1000 births (live and still),1 2 and a significant percentage of these patients will be left with persistent neurological deficits.2 3 In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the number of shunt operations is estimated to be 3500–4000 a year by the Cambridge based UK Shunt Registry. In the United States, about 125 000 shunt procedures are carried out annually at an estimated cost of

Ventriculoperitoneal shunt 30-day failure rate: a retrospective international cohort study.

100 million.4 In relatively recent times in the United Kingdom, the number of paediatric neurosurgeons has increased, and in many regions the care of children with hydrocephalus has been inherited from the general paediatric surgeons. The generally accepted view is that the CSF circulation is one of bulk flow, from the choroid plexus (production) to the pacchionian granulations (absorption). The evidence for this came in the 1960s when Welch and Friedman5 found that the pacchionian granulations could act …

Sub-galeal coiling of the proximal and distal components of a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt. An unusual complication and proposed mechanism.

BACKGROUND With the need for transparency of surgical results, 30-day outcome measures have become increasingly important. Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt failure is a substantial burden to patients and health care systems. OBJECTIVE This study introduces the 30-day VP shunt failure rate as a possible barometer of surgical outcome and demonstrates its use in a national (United Kingdom [UK]) study and makes comparison with 2 published randomized, controlled trials (RCT). METHODS A cohort study of all (except 1) pediatric neurosurgical centers in the UK and Ireland. All new and revision VP shunt operations were recorded for 2008 and 2009. Both newly placed and revised VP shunts were subject to Kaplan-Meier analysis, and 30-day failure rate was obtained. Data from 2 RCTs investigating new VP shunt technology were analyzed, and the 30-day failure rate was extracted for comparative purposes. RESULTS The overall 30-day and 1-year failure rates for new shunts were 12.9% and 28.8%, respectively. The 30-day failure rate from 2 RCTs was comparable (14% and 16%, respectively). The failure rate of the subsequent revision of those new shunts was 20.7% at 30 days and 40.4% at 1 year. According to these data, shunt survival appears to be better if performed by a consultant pediatric neurosurgeon for revision surgery only. CONCLUSION VP shunt survival in the UK is comparable to the published multicenter data investigating shunt survival. The 30-day failure rate may represent a better barometer of surgical outcome and should be used as a separate outcome measure in the design of future trials.

Failure of third ventriculostomy in the treatment of aqueductal stenosis in children.

Abstract We describe the case of a child in whom proximal migration of the peritoneal catheter and extrusion of the ventricular catheter resulted in the entire ventriculo-peritoneal shunt along with the shunt chamber (Orbis Sigma II valve) lying in a sub-galeal pocket in the occipital region in a tightly coiled fashion. This coiling was very similar in appearance to that of the pre-insertion shunt in the packaging when it is supplied; hence it is postulated that the migration was secondary to retained ’memory’ of the shunt tubing. This is a rare complication of ventriculo-peritoneal shunt, which has not been described before.

Patients with autosomal-recessive osteopetrosis presenting with hydrocephalus and hindbrain posterior fossa crowding.

OBJECT The goal of this study was to analyze the types of failure and long-term efficacy of third ventriculostomy in children. METHODS The authors retrospectively analyzed clinical data obtained in 213 children affected by obstructive triventricular hydrocephalus who were treated by third ventriculostomy between 1973 and 1997. There were 120 boys and 93 girls. The causes of the hydrocephalus included: aqueductal stenosis in 126 cases; toxoplasmosis in 23 cases, pineal, mesencephalic, or tectal tumor in 42 cases; and other causes in 22 cases. In 94 cases, the procedure was performed using ventriculographic guidance (Group I) and in 119 cases by using endoscopic guidance (Group II). In 19 cases (12 in Group I and seven in Group II) failure was related to the surgical technique. Three deaths related to the technique were observed in Group I. For the remaining patients, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed a functioning third ventriculostomy rate of 72% at 6 years with a mean follow-up period of 45.5 months (range 4 days-17 years). No significant differences were found during long-term follow up between the two groups. In Group I, a significantly higher failure rate was seen in children younger than 6 months of age, but this difference was not observed in Group II. Thirty-eight patients required reoperation (21 in Group I and 17 in Group II) because of persistent or recurrent intracranial hypertension. In 29 patients shunt placement was necessary. In nine patients in whom there was radiologically confirmed obstruction of the stoma, the third ventriculostomy was repeated; this was successful in seven cases. Cine phase-contrast (PC) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies were performed in 15 patients in Group I at least 10 years after they had undergone third ventriculostomy (range 10-17 years, median 14.3 years); this confirmed long-term patency of the stoma in all cases. CONCLUSIONS Third ventriculostomy effectively controls obstructive triventricular hydrocephalus in more than 70% of children and should be preferred to placement of extracranial cerebrospinal shunts in this group of patients. When performed using ventriculographic guidance, the technique has a higher mortality rate and a higher failure rate in children younger than 6 months of age and is, therefore, no longer preferred. When third ventriculostomy is performed using endoscopic guidance, the same long-term results are achieved in children younger than 6 months of age as in older children and, thus, patient age should no longer be considered as a contraindication to using the technique. Delayed failures are usually secondary to obstruction of the stoma and often can be managed by repeating the procedure. Midline sagittal T2-weighted MR imaging sequences combined with cine PC MR imaging flow measurements provide a reliable tool for diagnosis of aqueductal stenosis and for ascertaining the patency of the stoma during follow-up evaluation.

Preoperative and postoperative developmental attainment in patients with sagittal synostosis: 5-year follow-up.

Osteopetrosis is a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by abnormal bone sclerosis. As a result, patients often require input regarding various neurological complications. Although autosomal-recessive osteopetrosis has been associated with hydrocephalus, it has not been linked to hindbrain abnormalities. The authors present 3 cases of auto-somal-recessive osteopetrosis in patients who presented with hydrocephalus. In each of these patients, cerebrospinal fluid diversion procedures were required and hindbrain compression developed. To date, only 1 patient has needed craniocervical decompression due to symptomatic brainstem compression.

Efficacy of ventricular access devices in the treatment of neonatal intraventricular haemorrhage

OBJECT The object of this study was to clarify whether improved developmental attainment following surgical correction of sagittal synostosis (SS), previously identified at initial postoperative assessment, is maintained at longer-term follow-up at 5 years of age. METHODS The study involved 32 children with SS who underwent corrective surgery at a mean (± SD) age of 8.5 ± 7.25 months (range 2.8-39.9 months). All the children were assessed preoperatively, at 7 months postoperatively, and at 5 years of age, using the Griffiths Mental Development Scales. A control group consisted of 23 children with SS who had received developmental assessment on 2 or more occasions without surgical intervention (8 of these children had had follow-up at 5 years of age). RESULTS The data indicated that, prior to surgical correction, children with SS had poorer Gross Locomotor function than other areas of development and that, following surgical intervention, the deficit resolved (even where there was severe developmental delay). The results further showed that improvement in Gross Locomotor function observed at 7 months postoperatively was further improved upon by 5 years of age. The same was true for their overall General Quotient, even in those children exhibiting severe developmental delay. Lesser improvements across time were shown for other skill areas. The children with SS who did not undergo surgery did not show any improvement in development, and in fact a deterioration in fine locomotor control was identified in these patients. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that corrective surgery for SS has a positive early impact on development, which is maintained and improved upon by 5 years of age, and that this surgery therefore offers more than simply a cosmetic improvement. Furthermore, the results suggest that not operating on children with SS means not only that this opportunity for developmental gain is missed, but that it may also cause an actual deterioration in developmental attainment.

Comparison of survival between the UK and US after surgery for most common pediatric CNS tumors.

Background Post Haemorrhagic Hydrocephalus (PHH) secondary to Neonatal Intraventricular Haemorrhage (IVH) is the commonest cause of infantile hydrocephalus. The presence of ventricular blood, underdeveloped immune systems and thin, friable skin preclude shunting as a primary intervention. Studies show that serial lumbar punctures, medical management and ventricular taps have no discernible effect on outcome. This study attempts to more clearly elucidate the role and efficacy of ventricular access devices (VAD) in the treatment of PHH. The aims were to determine the complication rate, the use of the VAD and the number of patients with VAD who later required shunting.

Construction of titanium cranioplasty plate using craniectomy bone flap as template.

BACKGROUND We report a population-based study examining long-term outcomes for common pediatric CNS tumors comparing results from the UK with the National Cancer Institutes Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data set and with the literature. No such international study has previously been reported. METHODS Data between 1996 and 2005 from the UK National Registry of Childhood Tumours (NRCT) and the SEER registry were analyzed. We calculated actuarial survival at each time point from histological diagnosis, with death from any cause as the endpoint. Kaplan-Meier estimation and log-rank testing (Cox proportional hazards regression analysis) were used to calculate survival differences among tumor subtypes, adjusting for age at diagnosis. RESULTS Population-based outcomes for each tumor type are presented. Overall age-adjusted survival, stratifying for histology (combining pilocytic astrocytoma, anaplastic astrocytoma, glioblastoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumor, medulloblastoma, and ependymoma), is significantly lower for NRCT than SEER (hazard ratio 0.71, P < .001) and at 1, 5, and 10 years. Both NRCT and SEER outcomes are worse than those reported from trials. CONCLUSION Analyzing data from comprehensive registries minimizes bias associated with trials and institutional studies. The reasons for the poorer outcomes in children treated in the UK are unclear. Likewise, the differences in outcomes between patients in trials and those not in trials need further investigation. We recommend that all children with CNS tumors be recruited into studies-even if these are observational studies. We also suggest that registries be suitably funded to publish independent outcome data (including morbidity) at both a national and an institutional level.