VP Shunt

Question

What does it mean if they say my son's shunt might be draining slowly? We were in the ER the other night because he complained of a headache. First time he ever did.  Also thought he was going to throw up. Shunt series and CT came back normal, which wouldn't mean anything because when he had a malfunction two yrs. ago all his tests came back normal.But they told me it was draining a lil slowly.????

DrSharma · Accepted Answer

Hi there. Your son could be having some kind of blockage anywhere in the ventriculo peritioneal shunt which is a conduit of draining when the excess cerebrospinal fluid which could be either hypersecreted or poorly absorbed or being blocked in the pathway via lymphatic system. The headaches and nausea are due to decreased outflow or slow drainage of csf due to kinking or any other issues with csf drainage. The raised intracranial pressure could cause these symptoms. If this is severe and symptoms not resolving, your son might need a reexploration of shunt and revision under general anesthesia. Hope this helps. Take care.

defrance · Answer

Even if the shunt series and CT came back normal which did 2 yrs. ago when he had a blockage, I should still have him checked out again or make appt. w/ his neurosurgeon? He seems fine now. About mid June his right eye started wandering. He had eye surgery on both. That was June 17th. we go back July 16th. He said if it doesn't correct itself, eye surgery again. I'm wondering if that might have been the start of something with the shunt and that it might be slowly malfunctioning. His last malfunction came on all of a sudden. My son is Aidan and is 4. He was born 2 months early w/ brain bleed and they waited to put a shunt in. had it placed @ 5 months old.

selmaS · Answer

Hi..shunts r used to divert excess CSF fluid off the brain to another area...some times to the stomach...if the shunt is draining too slowly, the CSF would back up kindda like a slow drain in ur sink....the excess fluid that is sitting up there causes him to have pressure HA's and the nauseated feelings...if the drain was taking away too fast then it too would cause him to feel ill.

 I hope that helps : )

 Did they say they could adjust the shunt for him?

   "selma"