Endoscopic aqueductoplasty

Abstract

Endoscopic aqueductoplasty (EA) was considered as a good alternative to endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) in selected patients. A personal experience on EA is presented in this paper. Forty-five patients with primary or secondary aqueductal stenosis underwent EA with or without a stent between June 2000 and June 2005. Age, gender, diagnosis, endoscopic procedures, complications, and outcome were reviewed. EA was considered successful when patients with noncommunicating hydrocephalus became shunt-free. When the patient did not need a fourth ventricular shunt after the EA with or without a stent, it was considered to be successful in patients with isolated fourth ventricle. Fifteen patients were older than 18 years of age. EA, EA with stent, EA with ETV, and EA with stent in addition to ETV were performed in 11, 6, 11, and 17 patients, respectively. Out of 45 patients who had undergone EA with or without stent and ETV, 31 (69%) benefited from the endoscopic procedures. The type of the endoscopic procedure, diagnosis, and the age of the patients did not significantly affect the outcome. EA with a stent can be performed in patients with isolated fourth ventricle and in patients with aqueduct stenosis in which ETV is not feasible. EA can be dangerous and useless in aqueduct stenosis (AS), and EA with ETV is even more useless. Those patients who have undergone EA should be closely followed up for a long period of time because restenosis of the aqueduct and stent migration may happen years after endoscopic surgery.