Ventriculoauriculostomy-associated infection

Abstract

✓ A series of 102 newly referred and uninfected patients on whom 299 operative procedures to insert ventriculoauricular cerebrospinal fluid shunts were performed over a 12-year period were studied for the rate and cause of associated sepsis. It was found that 15.7% of the shunt insertions were followed by infection, and 1.3% of the revisions, for an overall infection rate of 14%. There were two clinical groups, those who developed acute postoperative infections (9%) and those with delayed infections developing 1 month to 6 years after operation (5%). The causes of the infections are discussed. It is suggested that careful follow-up with frequent blood cultures will reveal more infected cases in the delayed group, and that bacteriocidal agents selected for the specific organism should be maintained in cerebrospinal fluid and blood for long periods.