shunt removal

My son is 16yrs old and has had a VP shunt in place since he was three. I have been told the shunt is not functioning and can be removed. He had a Arcnoid Cyst, the cyst is no longer there the shunt has done it's job.He has severe anger out burst, his moods can go form fine to one second and out of control the next. He has had a Nero Phsyc Evaluation done and it has shown he has signigfant brain damage on the left side of his brain. My feeling is the shunt may be inerfearing with brain activitey. I am woundering if anyone has had a shunt removed succsefully or what kind of complications they had due to having the shunt removed. Any help would be appreciated.

[mimi2121]

Depends on whether he is ventricles are normal size and if there is no swelling.  There is this surgery that it's called third ventriclitist where they remove the shunt and puncture a hole thru a ventricle to allow this to do the same as a shunt would.  More successful with tumor patients.  My daughter has  a shunt due to hydrocephulus caused by a hemmorage.  she is 21 years old.  She has SVS and has headaches and neausea at times.  

I would go for a second opinion and third if necessary.  

[kelmike66]

My son just went through surgery to have his shunt tied. And now we are waiting to see about the removal of his shunt.He is doing very well showing no signs of headaches. At the same time I have had 4 opinions. Some say leave it and some say it can come out.Leaving it in may cause him problems later in life, with it getting to tight and causing pain. So we are choosing to have it removed.We had test run before the first surgery so we new the shunt was not functioning. The test that was done was called a nuclear test they put dye into the shut and it should flow down and show as a bright burst of white if the fluid is passing trough. I don't now were you are located but Shands and Arnold Palmer are great hospitals and specialize in this kind of thing they are located in Florida.Wish everyone luck. Thank you so much for sharing I don't feel like I am all alone anymore.

[matthoward]

i have had shunt in head since 7 , now 37.   Connects down to abdomen.  probably hasn't functioned since 9 yrs old.  

wonder how much it costs to remove it?  any docs wanna chime in?