Clinical analysis of two kinds of surgical procedures for the treatment of communicating hydrocephalus

Abstract

Objective To explore the therapeutic effects and complications of two kinds of surgical procedures for the treatment of communicating hydrocephalus.  Methods Ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) and lumboperitoneal shunt (LPS) were respectively adopted to treat 43 cases of communicating hydrocephalus. The therapeutic effects and complications were analyzed, and related literatures were reviewed.  Results No significant difference was found between 2 groups in therapeutic effects, such as alleviating headache, improving intelligence and ventricle shrinking (P > 0.05, for all). The incidence of complications of ventriculoperitoneal shunt, mainly including epilepsy [36.36% (8/22) vs 0, P = 0.008], infection [36.36% (8/22) vs 4.76% (1/21), P = 0.030], intracranial hemorrhage [27.27% (6/22) vs 0, P = 0.032], and so on was significantly higher than that of lumboperitoneal shunt.  Conclusions For communicating hydrocephalus, the effect of lumboperitoneal shunt is better than that of ventriculoperitoneal shunt, so the latter can be replaced by the former in most cases, except for infection or serious abnormality at operative site.

doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2014.10.015