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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Fourteen months after the implantation of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt catheter, a six-year-old boy developed recurrent, severe headaches and vomiting every three weeks. The attacks were of such severity that hospitalizations for analgesic and antiemetic therapies and intravenous rehydration and electrolyte substitution were repeatedly required. The patient was asymptomatic between the attacks. After an extensive diagnostic workup—including repeated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neurosurgical examinations—common differential diagnoses, including shunt overdrainage, were ruled out. The patient was transferred to a specialized pediatric pain clinic with suspected cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS). Despite intensive and in part experimental prophylactic and abortive pharmacological treatment, there was no improvement in his symptoms. Consecutive MRI studies reinvestigating the initially excluded shunt overdrainage indicated an overdrainage syndrome. Subsequently, the symptoms disappeared after disconnecting the shunt catheter. This case report shows that even if a patient meets CVS case definitions, other differential diagnoses must be carefully reconsidered to avoid fixation error.

Details

Title
Differential Diagnosis of Cyclic Vomiting and Periodic Headaches in a Child with Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt: Case Report of Chronic Shunt Overdrainage
Author
Mauritz, Maximilian David 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hasan, Carola 2 ; Schreiber, Lutz 3 ; Wegener-Panzer, Andreas 4 ; Barth, Sylvia 5 ; Zernikow, Boris 2 

 Paediatric Palliative Care Centre, Children’s and Adolescents’ Hospital, Witten/Herdecke University, 45711 Datteln, Germany; [email protected] (C.H.); [email protected] (B.Z.) 
 Paediatric Palliative Care Centre, Children’s and Adolescents’ Hospital, Witten/Herdecke University, 45711 Datteln, Germany; [email protected] (C.H.); [email protected] (B.Z.); Department of Children’s Pain Therapy and Paediatric Palliative Care, Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, 58448 Witten, Germany 
 Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Klinikum Vest, Academic Teaching Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 45657 Recklinghausen, Germany; [email protected] 
 Department of Radiology, Children’s and Adolescents’ Hospital, Witten/Herdecke University, 45711 Datteln, Germany; [email protected] 
 Department of Pediatrics, Ostalb Klinikum Aalen, 73430 Aalen, Germany; [email protected] 
First page
432
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
22279067
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2642362851
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.