Hi,
I had Lumbar- Peritoneal (LP) shunt implanted in 1988 after incessant headaches, fevers and ever-increasing swelling under the incision, all of which signified increased intracranial pressure. The LP shunt allowed me to heal and the fluid to be reabsorbed. There was a great reduction in headaches for a couple of months, then they returned with vengeance but they were different in character than high-pressure headaches before the shunt. I was told that I need the shunt for only a few months while I heal after surgery, yet , the shunt is still there and lasted me through two pregnancies. Nobody knows how long exactly I needed it for and nobody is willing to take the risk and take it out, so I still have it.
There was a question about its effectiveness after the second surgery in 2007 and I talked to the original surgeon who put the shunt in. He said that it can't possibly be working after 20 years. In his experience, no shunt lasts more than 10 years, so if the patient is shunt-dependent, it has to be re-implanted every so often. However, most people who get the shunt after surgery, are no shunt-dependent after a few months to a couple of years at most.
AN headaches afrter surgery usully are more common after retrosigmoid or miffle fossa types and start mostly after six months with ever increasing intensity. After a few years (torturous!), they level off and might disappear. This is the most well documented and most common pattern of post-surgical AN headaches. They are different than high intracranial pressure headaches that shunt indeed helps and takes away. I seriously doubt that a shunt of any kind will work for post surgical headaches, but I may be wrong, of course. What makes your surgeon think that shunt will help? Is there any evidence of increased intracranial pressure?
Eve
