Affiliations: Department of Neurosurgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Songtao Qi, Department of Neurosurgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 1838 Guangzhou Dadao Bei Street, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, China. Tel.: +86 20 6164 1801; Fax: +86 20 6164 1806; E-mail:sjwkqisongtao@126.com
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: The sheath is a crucial piece of equipment during endoscopic third
ventriculostomy (ETV). However, the normally used metal sheath can not
provide clear images around the tube.
OBJECTIVE: We developed a new transparent sheath (TS) in order to overcome the
inherent disadvantages of the metal sheath (MS).
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between August 2010 and February 2013, a total of 120 hydrocephalus patients
received ETV in our hospital. Patients were retrospectively divided into two
groups, the transparent sheath group (TSG) and metal sheath group (MSG). The
success rate of the first puncture, the operative time and the incidence of
complications were used to compare the efficiency between transparent sheath
and metal sheath.
RESULTS: There were 32 patients in the TSG and 88 patients in the MSG. The success
rate of the first puncture was 100% in the TSG and 87.5% in the MSG,
respectively (p= 0.036). The operative time of the TSG was significant
shorter than the MSG (p= 0.001). While the incidence of complications was
similar between the two groups (p= 0.757).
CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the tranditional metal sheath, the newly developed
transparent sheath for ETV is more efficient and showed lower risk. This may
be explained by the better surgical view of the whole puncture channel
provide by the TS.
