BackgroundDespite the high-frequency rate of cerebrospinal fluid shunt malfunction, radiological evaluation of CSF shunts has remained deficient, focusing mainly on demonstrating secondary signs of shunt failure rather than evaluating the shunt tube itself. We aimed to study the utility of different MR pulse sequences in evaluating the cranial and abdominal ends of CSF shunts in order to identify the potential cause of shunt failure and its impact on patient management.ResultsTwenty-five patients (18 males, 7 females, median age 2.5 years, IQR 0.75-15) were enrolled in the study, having 28 ventriculo-peritoneal shunts and single ventriculo-gallbladder shunt. The catheter lumen and fine intraventricular septae were only demonstrated in 3D-DRIVE sequences (p < 0.001). Except for three patients (having cranial end-related complications), all patients with cranial and/or abdominal end-related complications received surgery (p < 0.001, positive likelihood and negative likelihood ratios = 7.27, 0.3, respectively, sensitivity = 0.7 and specificity = 0.9). MRI findings (luminal occlusion, disconnection, CSF collection, or migration) were consistent with operative data. There is no significant difference between patients who underwent surgery and those with conservative management, or symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in terms of the prevalence of ventricular dilatation or white matter signal abnormality. The results of the abdomino-pelvic fat-suppressed T2-WI showed excellent agreement with ultrasound findings (Cohen's Kappa 0.9). Quantitative PC could give insights into CSF dynamics, which depend on the site and cause of shunt malfunction.ConclusionsMRI could be a one-stop destination for evaluating patients with suspected non-acute shunt malfunction. It was found to have clinical relevance in terms of accurately locating the exact site and possible cause of shunt-related complications.
