Pediatric Hydrocephalus in Ethiopia: Treatment Failures and Infections: A Hospital-Based, Retrospective Study

Abstract

VP shunt insertions had unacceptably high infection rate despite the presence of a protocol for the procedure. Intraoperative guidelines should be developed further and followed strictly to reduce infections. Such measures should include restricting the number of surgeons performing the procedure. In our opinion, one should avoid insertion of a VP shunt as the primary treatment. ETV has proved to be a good alternative in other studies and the decreasing pattern of ETV failure in our study also suggest ETV as a better alternative to VP shunt.