Posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus of prematurity treatment

Both programmable valves (Sophy and Polaris) can be safely used for treatment of neonatal hydrocephalus, introducing some technical modifications. (2) Both valves are comparable to other shunts with regard to indications, performance, and safety. (3) The possibility of modifying their working pressure seems to constitute their main advantage. Prevention of late overdrainage syndromes with these valves needs a longer follow-up ¹⁾.

Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH) is one of the most serious neurovascular complications resulting from premature birth. It can result in clotting of blood within the ventricles, which causes a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid that can lead to posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation and posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus of prematurity.

There are 7 recommendations for the management of Posthemorrhagic hydrocephalu in infants. Three recommendations reached Level of Evidence 1 strength, which represents the highest degree of clinical certainty. There were two Level of Evidence 2 and two Level of Evidence 3 recommendations for the management of PHH.

Recommendation concerning Surgical temporizing measures: I. Ventricular access devices (VADs), external ventricular drains (EVDs), ventriculosubgaleal (VSG) shunts, or lumbar punctures (LPs) are treatment options in the management of PHH. Clinical judgment is required. Strength of Recommendation: Level II, a moderate degree of clinical certainty.

Recommendation concerning Surgical temporizing measures: II. The evidence demonstrates that VSG shunts reduce the need for daily CSF aspiration compared with VADs. Strength of Recommendation: Level II, a moderate degree of clinical certainty.

Recommendation concerning Routine use of Serial lumbar puncture: The routine use of serial lumbar puncture is not recommended to reduce the need for shunt placement or to avoid the progression of hydrocephalus in premature infants. Strength of Recommendation: Level I, high clinical certainty.

Recommendation concerning nonsurgical temporizing Agents: i. Intraventricular thrombolytic agents including tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), urokinase, or streptokinase are not recommended as methods to reduce the need for shunt placement in premature infants with PHH. Strength of Recommendation: Level I, high clinical certainty.

Recommendation concerning nonsurgical temporizing Agents. ii. Acetazolamide and furosemide are not recommended as methods to reduce the need for shunt placement in premature infants with PHH. Strength of Recommendation: Level I, high clinical certainty.

Recommendation concerning timing of Shunt placement: There is insufficient evidence to recommend a specific weight or CSF parameter to direct the timing of shunt placement in premature infants with PHH. Clinical judgment is required. Strength of Recommendation: Level III, unclear clinical certainty.

Recommendation concerning endoscopic third Ventriculostomy: There is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) in premature infants with posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus. Strength of Recommendation: Level III, unclear clinical certainty.

Recommendation: Neuro-endoscopic lavage is a feasible and safe option and therefore may be used for the removal of intraventricular clots and may lower the rate of shunt placement. Strength of Recommendation: Level III, unclear clinical certainty ²⁾).

Currently, there are no direct treatments for these blood clots as the standard of care is invasive surgery to insert a shunt. Transcranial magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgHIFU) has been investigated as a non-invasive treatment to lyse blood clots. However, current MRgHIFU systems are not suitable in the context of treating IVH in neonates.

Raghuram et al. have developed a robotic MRgHIFU neurosurgical platform designed to treat the neonatal brain. This platform facilitates ergonomic patient positioning and directs treatment through their open anterior fontanelle while providing a larger treatment volume. The platform is based on an MR-compatible robot developed by our group. Further development of the platform has warranted investigation of its targeting ability to assess its feasibility in the neonatal brain. This study aimed to quantify the platform's targeting accuracy, precision, and repeatability using a brain phantom and clinical MRI system.

Methods: A thermosensitive brain-mimicking phantom was developed to test the platform's targeting accuracy. Rectangular grid patterns were created with HIFU thermal energy “lesions” in the phantoms by targeting specific coordinate points. The intended target locations were demarcated by inserting carbon fibre rods through a targeting assessment template. Coordinates for the intended and actual targets were derived from T2-weighted MRI scans and the centroid distance between them was measured. Subsequently, the platform's targeting accuracy was quantified according to equations derived from ISO Standard 9283:1998.

Results: HIFU ablation resulted in distinct thermal lesions within the thermosensitive phantoms, which appeared as discrete hypointense regions in T2-weighted MR scans. A total of 127 target points were included in the data analysis, which yielded a targeting accuracy of 0.6mm and targeting precision of 1.2mm.

Conclusions: The robotic MRgHIFU platform was shown to have a high degree of accuracy, precision, and repeatability. The results demonstrate the platform's functionality when targeting through simulated brain matter. These results serve as an initial verification of the platform targeting ability and showed promise towards the final application in a neonatal brain ³⁾.