[Diagnosis and therapy of intraperitoneal cerebrospinal fluid pseudocyst in ventriculoperitoneal cerebrospinal fluid shunts in patients with hydrocephalus].

Problems of an intraabdominal CSF cyst following ventriculoperitoneal shunt for hydrocephalus are demonstrated in an 8 1/2-month-old female infant. Whereas previously tentative diagnosis was made by plain abdominal x-ray and could be verified by laparotomy only, repeated ultrasound investigations now allow for early recognition of this complication. As it happened in this case, laparotomy was not necessary and mere aspiration of cyst contents via distal catheter followed by insertion of the distal catheter into the right atrium was sufficient. This method is an alternative to transabdominal cyst puncture and conventional surgical cyst resection.