Intracerebroventricular injection (also called ICV injection, i.c.v. injection, or sometimes ICVI) is an invasive injection technique of substances directly into the

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the ...

in cerebral ventricles in order to bypass the bloodbrain barrier. Although this barrier effectively protects the brain, it can prevent important medications from entering the CNS. The technique is widely used in biomedical research to introduce drugs, therapeutic RNAs, plasmid DNAs, and viral vectors into the CNS of diseased mice models. It can also be used in human in cases of

neurodegenerative disorders A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Such neuronal damage may ultimately involve cell death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic ...

like spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), or administering chemotherapy in

glioma A glioma is a type of tumor that starts in the glial cells of the brain or the spine. Gliomas comprise about 30 percent of all brain tumors and central nervous system tumours, and 80 percent of all malignant brain tumours. Signs and symptoms ...

s as well as delivering neurotrophic factors to CNS. It can be contrasted with

intraperitoneal injection Intraperitoneal injection or IP injection is the injection of a substance into the peritoneum (body cavity). It is more often applied to animals than to humans. In general, it is preferred when large amounts of blood replacement fluids are needed ...

as an alternative choice of route of administration with differing pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects. The

Ommaya reservoir An Ommaya reservoir is an intraventricular catheter system that can be used for the aspiration of cerebrospinal fluid or for the delivery of drugs (e.g. chemotherapy) into the cerebrospinal fluid. It consists of a catheter in one lateral ventricle ...

is a catheter system invented by

Ayub Ommaya Ayub Khan Ommaya MD, ScD (hc), FRCS, FACS (1930 - 2008) was a Pakistani American neurosurgeon and the inventor of the Ommaya reservoir. The reservoir is used to provide chemotherapy directly to the tumor site for brain tumors. Ommaya was also ...

, a Pakistani neurosurgeon in 1963. The reservoir is implanted under the scalp and attached to a catheter which is intracerebroventricularly inserted into the

lateral ventricle The lateral ventricles are the two largest ventricles of the brain and contain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Each cerebral hemisphere contains a lateral ventricle, known as the left or right ventricle, respectively. Each lateral ventricle resemble ...

References

Medical treatments Routes of administration Injection (medicine) Ventricular system {{treatment-stub