[Intracardiac migration of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. A systematic literature review and case report].

UNLABELLED: CSF shunting procedures are common in neurosurgery. A rare complication of these procedures is migration of distal catheter. We present a case of peritoneal catheter migration into the right heart chambers. A systematic review of appropriate literature data was carried out.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

We present a patient with communicating hydrocephalus after previous penetrating traumatic brain injury. Migration of peritoneal catheter into the right heart chambers occurred in 5 days after ventriculoperitoneal shunting. We performed a systematic review of literature data and analyzed all similar cases of intracardiac migration of ventriculoperitoneal catheter, risk factors of migration, possible complications and surgical treatments.

RESULTS

There were 38 articles describing 40 cases of distal catheter migration into the right heart chambers meeting the inclusion criteria. In 65% of patients, catheter migration was diagnosed after ≥2 months. Migration was asymptomatic in 21% of cases. Additionally, less than 50% of patients had no complications. Surgical treatment required complex techniques such as endovascular removal or thoracotomy in nearly 50% of cases.

CONCLUSION

Migration of ventriculoperitoneal catheter into the right heart chambers is a rare and dangerous complication of CSF shunting procedures. Risk factors of this complication should be considered when scheduling surgical treatment and follow-up examinations.