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A long-term complication of burying a shunt valve in the skull

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Abstract

One of the most common causes of shunt malfunction is infection; a major contributing factor to this infection in neonates is scalp necrosis over the valve site. One of the methods recommended to avoid this requires the burying of the valve in the skull bone. We present a case of a long-term complication from this procedure: the shunt slowly disconnected, over a prolonged period, leading to the formation of the fibrous tunnel which enabled the shunt to function intermittently. We recommend that the practice of burying the shunt into the skull bone is be reconsidered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, King Faisal University, King Fahd Hospital, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmed Ammar & Munir Nasser

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  1. Ahmed Ammar
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  2. Munir Nasser
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Ammar, A., Nasser, M. A long-term complication of burying a shunt valve in the skull. Neurosurg. Rev. 18, 65–67 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00416481

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00416481

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