Introduction: Hydrocephalus treatment can be very challenging. While some hydrocephalic patients can be treated endoscopically, many will require ventricular shunting. Frequent shunt issues over a lifetime is not uncommon. Although most shunt malfunctions are of the ventricular catheter or valve, distal failures occur as well. A subset of patients will accumulate non-functioning distal drainage sites.
Case description: We present a 27-year-old male with developmental delay who was shunted perinatally for hydrocephalus from intraventricular hemorrhage of prematurity. After failure of the peritoneum, pleura, superior vena cava (SVC), gallbladder, and endoscopy, an inferior vena cava (IVC) shunt was placed minimally-invasively via the common femoral vein. We believe this is only the eighth reported ventriculo-inferior-venacaval shunt. IVC occlusion years later was successfully treated with endovascular angioplasty and stenting followed by anticoagulation. To our knowledge, a ventriculo-inferior-venacaval shunt salvaged by endovascular surgery has not been previously described in the literature.
Conclusion: After failure of the peritoneum, pleura, SVC, gallbladder, and endoscopy, IVC shunt placement is an option. Subsequent IVC occlusion can be rescued by endovascular angioplasty and stenting. Anticoagulation after stenting (and potentially after initial IVC placement) is advised.
Keywords: Hydrocephalus; endovascular stent; inferior vena cava; ventricular shunt.