Pediatric Hydrocephalus Guidelines on Treatment and Management

The Hydrocephalus Association (HA) is happy to announce the publication of “Pediatric hydrocephalus: systematic literature review and evidence-based guidelines,” on November 1, 2014, in a supplemental issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. The report provides an in-depth analysis of current hydrocephalus treatment practices and the level of evidence supporting each in a series of ten articles with nine areas of recommendations. Nineteen treatment recommendations are given along with the evidence-based strength of each recommendation. The recommendations address topics ranging from the treatment of children with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), infection protection and treatment, technical advances in catheter placement, assessment of one valve over another, to defining how to judge the success of treatments. The goal is to guide clinical practice by identifying the best ways to treat and manage pediatric hydrocephalus and could have both commercial and clinical practice implications.

The publication was authored by a volunteer task force under the auspices of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS).  HA played an integral role in both the development and publication of the guidelines by serving as the patient voice in the development of the report and providing funding to publish the report. Dr. Ann Marie Flannery, corresponding author and member of the HA Medical Advisory Board, said “The Hydrocephalus Association was with us at the beginning and came through in a huge way at the end.”

In addition to Dr. Flannery, Debby Buffa, past HA Board Member, as well as three Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network (HCRN) lead investigators, Drs. David Limbrick, Jay Riva-Cambrin, and Mandeep Tamber, are contributing authors on the publication.

Click here to read the articles