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A cranial nail for fetal shunting

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Abstract

A small number of human fetal hydrocephalics have been treated by ventriculoamniotic shunts of silastic tubing [2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 22]. The Colorado device appears to be the one most commonly used [2]. The original experimental device tested on a primate model resembled a hollow shingle nail. This was designed by Michedja and Hodgen, contained a spring valve, measured approximately 32×4 mm and was placed by hysterotomy [16]. An attractive feature of this design was its fixation by impaction in the skull, preventing displacement by fetal activity, a reported disadvantage with the silastic devices [2, 10]. To our knowledge, no one has used this nail-like design and tailored it to transuterine percutaneous placement in a human case.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 03756, Hanover, NH, USA

    Richard L. Saunders

  2. Department of Maternal and Child Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 03756, Hanover, NH, USA

    G. Millard Simmons & William H. Edwards

  3. Department of Radiology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 03756, Hanover, NH, USA

    Harte C. Crow

  4. Department of Neurosurgery, Northwestern University Medical School, 60611, Chicago, IL, USA

    J. Thomas Brown

Authors
  1. Richard L. Saunders
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  2. G. Millard Simmons
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  3. William H. Edwards
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  4. Harte C. Crow
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  5. J. Thomas Brown
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Saunders, R.L., Simmons, G.M., Edwards, W.H. et al. A cranial nail for fetal shunting. Child's Nerv Syst 1, 185–188 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00735737

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