The Medos Hakim programmable valve in the treatment of pediatric hydrocephalus.

The programmable Medos Hakim valve offers the possibility of adjusting the valve's operating pressure noninvasively. We retrospectively analyzed a series of 78 children who underwent a shunting procedure using this programmable valve within the last 4 years: 46 children underwent a primary shunt placement and 32 children underwent a shunt revision with a different valve replaced by the Medos programmable valve. There were 23 complications, 9 infections, 13 mechanical complications and 1 subileus in all children. Treatment was successful with no need for further shunt revision in 29 of the children with primary shunt placements and 27 of the children with shunt revisions. In 10 cases of overdrainage this was adequately corrected by readjustment of the valve operating pressure alone. As there are no criteria for prediction of the valve operating pressure needed for any individual patient we consider this valve to be beneficial in various forms of shunt-dependent pediatric hydrocephalus.