Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38557894›Full record

ArticleChild's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery2024

External ventricular drainage in pediatric patients: indications, management, and shunt conversion rates.

Oday Atallah, Joachim K Krauss, Elvis J Hermann

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
2.1field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Understanding barriers to pediatric hydrocephalus management: an international survey.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2026
    Article
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  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Oday AtallahDepartment of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Joachim K KraussDepartment of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Elvis J HermannDepartment of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Hermann.Elvis@mh-hannover.de.
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposePlacement of an external ventricular drainage (EVD) is one of the most frequent procedures in neurosurgery, but it has specific challenges and risks in the pediatric population. We here investigate the indications, management, and shunt conversion rates of an EVD.

methodsWe retrospectively analyzed the data of a consecutive series of pediatric patients who had an EVD placement in the Department of Neurosurgery at Hannover Medical School over a 12-year period. A bundle approach was introduced to reduce infections. Patients were categorized according to the underlying pathology in three groups: tumor, hemorrhage, and infection.

resultsA total of 126 patients were included in this study. Seventy-two were male, and 54 were female. The mean age at the time of EVD placement was 5.2 ± 5.0 years (range 0-17 years). The largest subgroup was the tumor group (n = 54, 42.9%), followed by the infection group (n = 47, 37.3%), including shunt infection (n = 36), infected Rickham reservoir (n = 4), and bacterial or viral cerebral infection (n = 7), and the hemorrhage group (n = 25, 19.8%). The overall complication rate was 19.8% (n = 25/126), and the total number of complications was 30. Complications during EVD placement were noted in 5/126 (4%) instances. Complications during drainage time were infection in 9.5% (12 patients), dysfunction in 7.1% (9 patients), and EVD dislocation in 3.2% (4 patients). The highest rate of complications was seen in the hemorrhage group. There were no long-term complications. Conversion rates into a permanent shunt system were 100% in previously shunt-dependent patients. Conversion rates were comparable in the tumor group (27.7%) and in the hemorrhage group (32.0%).

conclusionEVD placement in children is an overall safe and effective option in children. In order to make further progress, carefully planned prospective and if possible randomized studies are needed controlling for multivariable aspects.

Indexed as

DrainageAdolescentCerebrospinal Fluid ShuntsChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansHydrocephalusInfantInfant, NewbornMalePostoperative ComplicationsRetrospective StudiesBrain tumorsChildrenExternal ventricular drainageInfectionIntracranial hemorrhage

Identifiers

PMID38557894
PMCPMC11180004
OpenAlexW4393377737

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.