Ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion for the treatment of refractory perilymphatic fistula

Abstract

Data in this study suggest that some patients with disabling vertigo, tinnitus, and headache due to perilymphatic fistula, whose conventional medical and surgical therapies have failed to produce a cure, benefit from VP shunt insertion. The authors hypothesize that VP shunt placement blunts intracranial pressure increases, which would cause secondary elevations in perilymphatic fluid pressure. Shunt insertion reduces perilymph leakage into the middle ear and may permit closure of the fistula.