Frequency of Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Infection in Infants on The Basis of Cerebrospinal Fluid Analysis

Authors

  • SAFIA RAHMAN Department of Pathology, Khyber Teaching Hospital
  • ZAHID KHAN 2Department of Neurosurgery Medical and Teaching Institute, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar
  • SEEMA SHARAFAT Department of Neurosurgery Medical and Teaching Institute, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar
  • SHAHID NAWAZ Department of Neurosurgery, Gomal Medical College, D.I. Khan
  • FAROOQ AZAM Department of Neurosurgery Medical and Teaching Institute, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar
  • MUMTAZ ALI Khyber Teaching Hospital, 2Department of Neurosurgery Medical and Teaching Institute, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar

Keywords:

Hydrocephalus, Cerebrospinal Fluid, Infected Cerebrospinal Fluids, Infants, Shunt Infection., Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt

Abstract

Objective: To know the frequency of ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection in infants on the basis of cerebrospinal fluid analysis.
Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted at the LRH Neurosurgery unit, pathology department of KTH Peshawar and department of neurosurgery Gomal Medical College. D.I. Khan, from July 2016 to June 2018. All consecutive patients with suspected ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection were included in the study. The age of the patients was up to one year, irrespective of their gender. Infants with closed fontanelle and previous revision surgery for ventriculoperitoneal shunt were excluded from the study.
Results: Total 204 patients. The age of the patients were under one year (infants). Infected cerebrospinal fluids were observed in 19.1% (39/204) infants. Female infants were slightly more common (51.3%) than male. Majority (64.1%) of the patients was having age less than 6 months.
Conclusion: We conclude from our study that 19.1% of infants with cerebrospinal fluid shunts have infected CSF on laboratory analysis. Most of the infected shunts occur in female infants and in the first half of their age.

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Published

2019-06-04

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2019): April-June

Section

Original Articles

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The work published by PJNS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Copyrights on any open access article published by Pakistan Journal of Neurological Surgery are retained by the author(s).