Role of cystoperitoneal shunt in the setup of cystic vestibular schwannomas drainage

Excerpt

We read with great interest the article entitled “Image-guided drainage of cystic vestibular schwannomata” by Barrett et al. [1] in the January 2010 issue of the journal. The authors present two cases of cystic vestibular schwannomas including the clinical, radiologic, and neuro-otologic findings and discuss the relevant literature. These two cases were elderly with comorbidity. They were managed successfully with image-guided insertion of a cystoperitoneal shunt. In the first case, a ventricular catheter was placed in the cystic portion of the tumor and connected to a reservoir. One month later, after several aspirations of cystic fluid in the reservoir, a distal catheter was connected allowing drainage of the cyst fluid in the peritoneum. In the second case, the “cystic catheter” was connected to a valveless reservoir, and a distal catheter was tunneled to the peritoneal cavity. …