Fatal intratumoral hemorrhage in posterior fossa tumors following ventriculoperitoneal shunt.

Abstract

We report on two patients with rare major intratumoral hemorrhage following ventriculoperitoneal shunt in posterior fossa tumors. A 28-year-old woman with a midline posterior fossa lesion, whose imaging features suggested a fourth ventricular ependymoma with obstructive hydrocephalus, was subjected to a right ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Her consciousness deteriorated, and she experienced massive intratumoral hemorrhage and later died. An eight-year-old girl presented with raised intracranial pressure and ataxia caused by vermian astrocytoma with obstructive hydrocephalus. She also developed a massive tumor bleed following a ventriculoperitoneal shunt and was subjected to emergency decompression of the tumor with the bleeding. She remained vegetative at discharge and died 18 months later. Intratumoral hemorrhage is a rare but important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with posterior fossa tumors who undergo ventriculoperitoneal shunt.

• Authors: R Santhanam, Anandh Balasubramaniam, B A Chandramouli
• Journal: Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia (J Clin Neurosci) Vol. 16 Issue 1 Pg. 135-7 (Jan 2009) ISSN: 0967-5868 [Print] Scotland
• PMID: 19013806 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Topics

• Adult
• Astrocytoma (surgery)
• Child
• Fatal Outcome
• Female
• Humans
• Infratentorial Neoplasms (surgery)
• Intracranial Hemorrhages (etiology)
• Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt (adverse effects)