Neurosurgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Predictors of subsequent overdrainage and clinical outcomes after ventriculoperitoneal shunting for idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.
Little is known about variables associated with overdrainage complications and neurofunctional and health-related quality of life outcomes in idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) patients after shunt surgery. ⋯ Few, if any, baseline and treatment characteristics may be helpful in estimating the individual risk of complications and clinical outcomes after shunt surgery for iNPH. Patients should be informed that longer surgery for any reason may increase the risk of later overdrainage. Also, women should be counseled about a sex-associated increased risk of the development of clinical symptoms of overdrainage, although the latter cannot be distinguished from a generally higher prevalence of headaches in the female population.