Frequency and treatment of hydrocephalus prior to and after posterior fossa tumor surgery in adult patients.

BACKGROUND: There is paucity of information about the frequency of hydrocephalus prior to and after posterior fossa tumor surgery in adult patients and about the best way it should be managed. The present study was conducted to determine the frequency of hydrocephalus prior to and after posterior fossa tumor surgery in adult patients as well as the value of an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) prior to posterior fossa tumor surgery with regard to the rate of perioperative complications and persistent hydrocephalus.

METHODS: A single-institution retrospective chart review of all posterior fossa tumor surgeries of our department in a 10-year period (2005 to 2014) has been done.

RESULTS: Fifty-two of 243 adult patients with posterior fossa tumors presented with hydrocephalus at the time of admission prior to tumor surgery. 39/52 received early tumor surgery, 11/52 an ETV prior to tumor surgery and in 2/52 an external ventricular drainage (EVD) was inserted prior to tumor surgery. 3/52 patients required a permanent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diverting procedure for persistent hydrocephalus after tumor removal. One hundred ninety-one patients did not demonstrate a hydrocephalus before surgical treatment and four of them developed a post-resection hydrocephalus.

CONCLUSION: The frequency of hydrocephalus prior to posterior fossa tumor surgery in adult patients is 21.4% and therefore much lower than in respective reports of pediatric patients. The risk of persistent hydrocephalus and newly developed hydrocephalus after tumor surgery was very low, too (5.7 and 2.1%, respectively). An ETV is not justified in every adult patient prior to posterior fossa tumor surgery.