Feasibility of Nonintubated Anesthesia for Lumboperitoneal Shunt Implantation

Lumboperitoneal shunt (LPS) implantation is a cerebrospinal fluid diversion therapy for the communicating type of normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH); NPH mainly affects older adults. However, endotracheal intubation for mechanical ventilation with muscle relaxant increases perioperative and postoperative risks for this population. Based on knowledge from nonintubated thoracoscopic surgery, which has been widely performed in recent years, we describe a novel application of nonintubated anesthesia for LPS implantation in five patients. Anesthesia without muscle relaxants, with a laryngeal mask in one patient and a high-flow nasal cannula in four patients, was used to maintain spontaneous breathing during the surgery. The mean anesthesia time was 103.8 min, and the mean operative duration was 55.8 min. All patients recovered from anesthesia uneventfully. In our experience, nonintubated LPS surgery appears to be a promising and safe surgical technique for appropriately selected patients with NPH.