Monday, November 16, 2015

Broken

This frontal cervical radiograph is from a patient presenting with headache. She has a history of obesity, pre-diabetes, normal pressure hydrocephalus, and asthma. She's had several surgeries in the past.

Challenge: Look closely at the radiograph; what do you see here?

Image shown under Fair Use.

4 comments:

tree said...

That VP shunt doesn't go to the P!

Anonymous said...

Fractured ventriculoperitoneal shunt

Anonymous said...

Interruption of the VP catheter junction at the neck base.

Craig said...

haha yes - it's just a V without a P
-
Broken

This is a fractured ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Mechanical failure is the second most common complication of VP shunt (infection being the first). If you look closely at the left clavicle, you can see the caudal retraction of the distal fragment.

Sources: UpToDate; LearningRadiology.