Morbidity and outcome of shunted hydrocephalus.

Over an eighteen month period 50 children with hydrocephalus of different aetiologies were treated with a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt during the first year of life. The morbidity associated with their shunts and their outcome were reviewed after 10 years. During the 10 year follow-up period 82% required a shunt revision. The number of hospitalisations varied widely (range 0-13, median 3). 28% suffered from a shunt infection at some time during the 10 years. Shunt revisions and shunt infections had no significant effect on long-term outcome. 72% of the infants had a good outcome and the sub-group of infants with post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus fared as well as the rest.