To shunt or to fenestrate: which is the best surgical treatment for arachnoid cysts in pediatric patients?

The treatment options for intracranial arachnoid cysts are either craniotomy and fenestration of the cyst into the cerebrospinal fluid spaces or shunting of the cyst contents extracranially. Fenestration may eliminate the need to shunt, but it is a major operative procedure and is not always successful. To determine which treatment provides the greatest benefit with the fewest complications, the records of 31 patients with 34 arachnoid cysts treated at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles between 1976 and 1986 were reviewed. The mean age of the patients was 4.4 years, with a range of 0 to 15.5 years. The most common location was the middle fossa (14 cases), followed by the posterior fossa (7 cases), the suprasellar region (5 cases), and hemispheric (5 cases) and other locations (3 cases). Signs and symptoms were related to abnormally rapid head growth in infants and to increased intracranial pressure and seizures in older children. The initial treatment of 29 cysts was fenestration. Twenty-two (76%) procedures were successful, with no additional treatment needed for the cyst. The other 7 cysts required the subsequent placement of a cystoperitoneal shunt. In 5 cases, the cysts were treated initially with cystoperitoneal shunts. Of the total 12 cystoperitoneal shunts, 5 have required revisions on one or more occasions. No significant difference in morbidity was noted between the two treatment options. Because we consider shunt independence to be a major goal of therapy, we suggest that patients with arachnoid cysts be divided into two categories, those presenting with associated hydrocephalus and those without hydrocephalus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)