The Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital was the first in northeast Ohio to introduce the ventriculoscope for the treatment of hydrocephalus, an abnormal enlargement of the head caused by a blockage in the circulation of cerebral spinal fluid in the brain. This technology allows fluid to be drained from the brain without major surgery. In some cases, it eliminates the need for a permanently implanted shunt.
Cleveland Clinic Pediatric and Congenital Neurosurgery Section (PCNS) at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital serves as a tertiary referral center for difficult hydrocephalus. Treatment in children with complicated and difficult to manage hydrocephalus including multiple infections and multi-loculation and cystic fluid accumulation. The PCNS was the first in the area to establish the use of adjustable resistance shunt systems, which allow a reduction of over and under drainage symptoms and the ability to customize CSF drainage in each child. The unit was also the first in the area to use newly developed shunt materials, which dramatically reduced shunt infections. Finally, the group established the first neuroendoscopy unit in Ohio and was one of the first to develop a computer-navigated neuroendoscope. The pediatric and congenital neurosurgery service has one of the largest and longest series of children and adults treated with the neuroendoscope by the minimally invasive third ventriculostomy.
Clinical research programs reinforce the clinical program in hydrocephalus and experimental laboratory-based programs focused on the pathophysiology of hydrocephalus. Educational programs are aimed at public education, family support groups, and professionals, such as neurosurgical colleagues learning endoscopic techniques or management using variable resistance of shunt systems, and regional pediatricians and neurologist in the treatment of pediatric and adult hydrocephalus.
