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Mortality and complications 1 year after treatment of hydrocephalus with endoscopic third ventriculostomy and ventriculoperitoneal shunt in children at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi

  • Original Article - CSF Circulation
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Abstract

Background

Over the past two decades, the management of hydrocephalus has witnessed the addition of endoscopic third ventriculostomy with or without choroid plexus cauterization (ETV ± CPC) to the traditional methods including ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion (VPSI). We conducted this study to assess mortality and complications with surgical implications associated with the two procedures in children with hydrocephalus.

Methods

We reviewed our operating theater registry to identify children below 17 years old who underwent hydrocephalus surgery for the first time in 2016. The patients were followed for up to 1 year from the date of the initial operation. Their vital status was confirmed by follow-up visits by a community nurse. Descriptive analyses were used to describe the characteristics of the patients and evaluate the study outcomes (i.e., mortality and complications).

Results

One hundred fifty-three patients were eligible for the study; 56% were males and 73.2% had primary ETV ± CPC. Complete 1-year follow-up data was available for 79 patients, and 73.4% of these had ETV ± CPC. One-year success (event-free) rates for ETV and VPSI were similar at 67.4% and 66.7%, respectively. ETVs in infants under 6 months performed poorly; failing in half the infants, who were subsequently converted to VPS. Shunt sepsis was very high, 21.4% (95% CI 10.3–36.8). The majority of surgical complications (81.8%) occurred within 3 months of surgery.

Conclusion

ETV ± CPC and VPSI carry a similar frequency of mortality and complications in our setting, and therefore, both should be considered as a treatment option for patients with hydrocephalus. As VP shunt is still used for managing most of the patients, there is still a need to prioritize measures to reduce shunt infections.

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Abbreviations

CPC:

Choroid plexus cauterization

CSF:

Cerebrospinal fluid

EVD:

External ventricular drain

ETV:

Endoscopic third ventriculostomy

IQR:

Inter-quartile range

VPSI:

Ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Favour Kaunda for her assistance through the community nursing service and Linda Kalirani-Phiri for her assistance with (language) editing and proofreading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Blantyre Institute of Neurosurgical Sciences, Chipatala Avenue, P O Box 1052, Blantyre, Malawi

    S. Chimaliro, C. Hara & P. Kamalo

Authors
  1. S. Chimaliro
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  2. C. Hara
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  3. P. Kamalo
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Contributions

CM—research conception, literature review, data collection, data analysis, manuscript preparation, and approval of the final draft

HC—data analysis, first draft preparation and literature review, editing of further drafts, and approval of the final draft

PK—research conception, data analysis, manuscript preparation, editing of all drafts, and preparation of the final draft

The authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to C. Hara.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on CSF Circulation

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1

Table 1 One-year epidemiology, management, and causes of hydrocephalus
Full size table

Table 2

Table 2 One-year mortality and surgical morbidity profiles of children aged 16 years and below, treated for hydrocephalus with endoscopic third ventriculostomy and ventriculoperitoneal shunts
Full size table

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Chimaliro, S., Hara, C. & Kamalo, P. Mortality and complications 1 year after treatment of hydrocephalus with endoscopic third ventriculostomy and ventriculoperitoneal shunt in children at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi. Acta Neurochir 165, 61–69 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-022-05392-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-022-05392-7

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