Ventriculostomy is a

neurosurgical Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

procedure that involves creating a hole (stoma) within a cerebral ventricle for drainage. It is most commonly performed on those with

hydrocephalus Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased intracranial pressure, pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor ...

. It is done by surgically penetrating the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

, dura mater, and brain such that the ventricular system ventricle of the brain is accessed. When catheter drainage is temporary, it is commonly referred to as an external ventricular drain (EVD). When catheter drainage is permanent, it is usually referred to as a shunt. There are many catheter-based ventricular shunts that are named for where they terminate, for example, a ventriculi-peritoneal shunt terminates in the peritoneal cavity, a ventriculoarterial shunt terminates within the atrium of the heart, etc. The most common entry point on the skull is called

Kocher's point Kocher's point is a common entry point through the frontal bone for an intraventricular catheter to drain cerebrospinal fluid from the anterior horn of the lateral ventricles, lateral ventricle. It is located 2–3 centimeters lateral to the midline ...

, which is measured 11 cm posterior to the nasion and 3 cm lateral to midline. EVD ventriculostomy is done primarily to monitor the intracranial pressure as well as to drain

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 bra ...

(CSF), primarily, or blood to relieve pressure from the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...

(CNS). Strictly speaking, "ventriculostomy" does not require the use of tubing. For example, a "third ventriculostomy" is a neurosurgical procedure that creates a hole in the floor of the third ventricle and usually has no indwelling objects.Other types of ventriculostomy include ventriculocisternostomy developed by the Norwegian doctor Arne Torkildsen.

References

Neurosurgical procedures Ventricular system {{Surgery-stub

See also

References