Background: Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) for obstructive hydrocephalus and endoscopic biopsy (EB) for intraventricular and paraventricular tumors are standard therapies because they are minimally invasive procedures. Although EB-associated hemorrhagic risk has been well documented, there have been only a few reports on hemorrhagic risk associated with ETV. We conducted a single-institution retrospective study on the incidence of hemorrhage secondary to EB and/or ETV.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patient characteristics, procedure, pathological findings, and complications including hemorrhage of 100 patients with intraventricular and paraventricular tumors who underwent EB and/or ETV at our institution from 2000 to 2020.
Results: EB/ETV combined surgery (combined group), EB-alone surgery (EB-alone group), and ETV-alone surgery (ETV-alone group) were performed in 44 (44%), 24 (24%), and 32 (32%) patients, respectively, and all procedures were successful. The rates of definitive and suggestive diagnoses in EB were 76.5% and 23.5%, respectively. Adverse events were observed in 6 patients. In the combined group, acute obstruction of the ETV stoma was observed in 1 patient and transient double vision was observed in 1 patient. Transient aqueductal stenosis/obstruction was observed in 2 patients in the EB-alone group. In the ETV-alone group, hemorrhage was observed in 2 patients; these patients developed intratumoral hemorrhage despite ETV-alone surgery. Subsequently, these 2 patients underwent tumor removal, and the histopathological diagnosis was atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor in both.
Conclusions: For obstructive hydrocephalus with atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor, physicians must be aware of the risk of postoperative intratumoral hemorrhage after performing ETV.
Keywords: AT/RT; ETV; Intratumoral hemorrhage; Obstructive hydrocephalus.
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