Simplest radiological measurement related to clinical success in endoscopic third ventriculostomy

Radiologic criteria for a successful endoscopic third ventriculostomy are not clearly defined and there is an ongoing need for determining simplest and strongest radiological criteria for this purpose. This paper aims to determine the easiest radiological parameter related to surgical outcome METHODS: Between January 2012 and December 2015 all patients receiving endoscopic third ventriculostomy with various indications were reviewed and 29 patients whose preoperative and early postoperative 3D-CISS images were available were studied. There were 13 males and 16 females, and there were 11 pediatric cases (mean age: 9.90±5.2; range: 2-18). The mean age of the entire population was 26.58±18.32 (range: 2-68 years). Measurements were performed using the ruler tool of a freely distributed medical imaging software. Simple ruler measurements of ventricular floor depression, lamina terminalis bowing, anterior commissure to tuber cinereum distance, mamillary body to lamina terminalis distance, third ventricular width, frontal horn width and occipital horn width were recorded and compared between successful and failed interventions.

Of the ventriculostomies, 22 (75.9%) were considered successful and 7 (24.1%) as failed at the last follow-up visit. Of the measurements performed, only those related to the third ventricle itself were significantly higher in the failed group. There were no association with lateral ventricular measurements.

Simple ruler measurements of the suggested distances significantly correlate with clinical success. After validating our results with higher number of patients, complex measurements and calculations to determine the link between clinical success and radiological success of ventriculostomy procedures may not be needed.