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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Neuronavigation and Laparoscopy Guided Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Insertion for the Treatment of Hydrocephalus
Published on: October 14, 2022
[Risk factors for cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection]
Raquel Gutiérrez-González1, Gregorio R Boto, Cristina Fernández-Pérez
1Servicio de Neurocirugía, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, España. rgutierrezgonzalez@yahoo.es
Background And Objective:
Shunt-related infection is a major complication. The effort to face up to this problem has focused on therapy, analysis of risk factors and primary prevention. The aim of this study is to identify risk factors for cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection.
Material And Method:
We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent shunt placement at our hospital during the period of study. Procedures followed for less than 90 days were excluded. One hundred and nineteen procedures were included in the final analysis.
Results:
Infection rate per procedure was 8.4%. Previous cerebrospinal fluid infection, previous shunt and complete substitution of the shunt were identified as risk factors for infection in the univariate analysis. However, a multivariate analysis confirmed that previous cerebrospinal fluid infection was the only independent risk factor for shunt-related infection (p=0.011).
Conclusion:
Previous cerebrospinal fluid infection is an independent risk factor for shunt-related infection. Other factors such as age, gender, etiology of hydrocephalus, previous shunt or complete substitution of the shunt were not associated with increased risk of infection.
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