Abstract
Hydrocephalus is a neurological disorder whereby the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) surrounding the brain builds up, causing severe pain and swelling of the head. This is particularly prevalent in infants, and is becoming more common. Shunts were used for decades to treat hydrocephalus patients, where mechanical valves were the popular type for draining the CSF. The problem is these valves have serious drawbacks e.g. overflow, low long-term accuracy, drift, low durability.
The ever-lasting dream of a fully shunted hydrocephalus patient is to (re)gain shunt independence and to be shunt-free. While this may have been only a dream in the past, recent advances have made this a realistic prospect for some. Clinical trials have illustrated that (re)activation of natural drainage and adapting the patient to abnormal ICP levels is achievable.
In this paper, a new technique is introduced to determine the actual shunt dependence and then singling out shunt independence in an attempt of progressively shunt removing thus minimising the risks. In addition, three novel enhancements are investigated to actively establish shunt independence (controlled arrest of hydrocephalus). The mechatronic shunting system would ease clinician and researchers concerns regarding shunt removal since it would adopt an algorithm that would personalise the weaning plan to the individual patient's needs and response.
Keywords: Hydrocephalus, Shunt Removal, Mecharonic Shunt, Shunt Weaning, CSF
References
- Takahashi, “Withdrawal of Shunt Systems-Clinical Use of the Programmable Shunt and Its Effecton Hydrocephalus”, Child’s Vervsyst, vol. 17, pp. 472-477, Aug. 2001
- E. Whitehead, and M. L. Walker, “Shunt Removal: Is It Ever Worththe Risk?, Techniques in Neurosurgery, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 219-223, 2002
- R. Kozak, M. Bango, M. Szabo, G. Rudas, Z. Vidnyanszky, and Z. Nagy, “Using diffusion MRI for measuring the temperature of cerebrospinal fluid within the lateral ventricles”, Acta Paediatr. Vol. 99, pp. 237–243, Feb. 2010
- . W. Hayden, D. B. Shurtleff, and T. J. Stuntz, “A Longitudinal Study of Shunt Function in 360 Paitents with Hydrocephalus, Dev Med Child Neurol, vol. 25, pp. 334-337, 1983
- Hara, C. Kodowaki, Y. Konishi, M. Ogashiwa, M. Numoto, and K. Takeuchi, “A New Method for Measuring Cerebrospinal Fluid Flow in Shunts, J Neurosurg, vol. 58, pp. 557-561, 1993.
- L. Kozody, J. A. Harrington, G. A. Zazanis, M. G. Noska, and R. M. Lehman, “Stereotactic CO2 Laser Therapy for Hydrocephalus”, in Proceeding of SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 2132, pp. 52-57, Jan. 1994
- Aschoff, “The Evolution of Shunt Technology in the Last Decade: A critical Review”, in 3rd International Hydrocephalus Workshop, Kos, May 2001
- J. Epstein, G. M. Hochwald, A. Wald, and J. Ransohoff, “Avoidance of Shunt Dependency in Hydrocephalus”, Dev Med Child Neurol, vol. 17, pp. 7178, 1975
- Miethke, “ Hydrocephalus Valve”, U.S. Patent No. 6926691, Aug. 2005
- L. Longatti and A. Carteri, “ Active singling Out of Shunt Independence”, Childs Nerv Syst., vol. 10, pp. 334-336, 1994
- Momani, A. Alkharabsheh and W. Al-Nuaimy, “Design of anIntelligent and Personalised Shunting System for Hydrocephalus”, IEEE EMBC Person-alized Healthcare through Technology, Vancouver, Canada, 2008, pp: 779-782.
- Alkharabsheh, L. Momani, J. Ababne, H. Al-Kharabsheh, M. Alhadidi, Y. Al-adwan, “Diagnosis and Fault Detection of a Mechatronic Hydrocephalus Shunting System”, Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, vol. 7, Pp. 449-457, Sep 2013
Corresponding Author
Abdelrahman A. Alkharabsheh
Computer Eng. Dept, Faculty of Engineering and Computer, Qassim Private Colleges
Alqassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i2.113
