How To Find Out If Shunt Inserted For Congenital Hydrocephalus Is Working?

Posted on Fri, 3 Jan 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 3 Jan 2014 Answered on

Wed, 22 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : My son is suffering from congenital Hydrocephalus and shunt was inserted when he was 3 month old. Now he is almost 5 years old now and I didnt find any symptoms as of now. My doctor stopped all medicine 1 year ago. I have recently meet with his Doc for routine checkup and Doc said all are ok. My question is that is there any way (test or something) to find out if blockage opened it self and no further operation required, As per my Doctor 40-50% patient recovered by this itself.

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (45 minutes later)

Brief Answer: My reply is below. Detailed Answer: Hi, Thank you for posting your query. The best evidence that the shunt is working and the blockage of CSF flow is diverted, is that your son is well and does not have symptoms such as headache, vomiting or blurred vision. The investigation that can be done to confirm the clearing of hydrocephalus is a brain scan (CT or MRI). I hope my reply has helped you. I would be pleased to answer, if you have any follow up queries or if you require any further information. Best wishes, Dr Sudhir Kumar MD (Internal Medicine), DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, For DIRECT QUERY to me: http://bit.ly/Dr-Sudhir-kumar My blog: http://bestneurodoctor.blogspot.com/

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar