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Children with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts often present to emergency departments for evaluation of suspected shunt blockage. Canadian researchers retrospectively reviewed records at a single ED for all children with CSF shunts whose evaluation included a shunt series. Shunt malfunction was defined as being present if a child underwent surgical shunt revision.
During the 2-year study period, 280 children (age range, 1.8 months to 18.8 years) made 437 visits. Etiologies for hydrocephalus included congenital hydrocephalus (27%), myelomeningocele (24%), neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage (19%), brain tumor (9%), meningitis (5%), and trauma (3%). Pediatric neuroradiologists read all shunt series and computed tomography (CT) scans (performe…