[Peritovenous shunt (Denver Shunt) in therapy resistant ascites in childhood]

This paper describes a 14 year old girl with massive, intractable ascites. After implantation of a peritoneovenous shunting-system (Denver-Shunt) the ascites completely disappeared and the girl's state of health improved markedly. Although the surgical procedure is simple many problems may arise postoperatively which demand intensive monitoring. As there is almost no experience in childhood a shunting-system should only be employed if medical therapy has failed over a long period and respiration, mobility or nutrition of the child is considerably affected by the ascites.