Hydrocehphallus, shunt not working, should it be removed..
Cheryl
Message 1 of 1
My 13 yo daughter was severely brain injured in a car accident at 6 months of age.. she is multiply disabled. Has epilepsy and cortical blindness and developmental delay, however she is in good general health! Shortly after the accident a shunt was installed to drain off the excess fluid. This worked well at the time and brought much relief to her. The shunt stopped working 5 years ago.. it is still in place. Neurosurgeons have suggested its removal. I am not so sure this is a good idea. She does not seem to have any adverse effects from having the shunt in her head.. she has only had an infecton twice both times in the first year. My thoughts on this are along the lines of "let sleeping dogs lie" to have had this shunt since in infancy it seems logical that there would be large amounts of bone growing around the shunt which would need to be removed to even get to the shunt... the operation itself leaves her open to risk of infection (that was how she got the early ones)!!! any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. thanks Cheryl