Acute cholecystitis complicating ventriculo-peritoneal shunting: report of a case and review of the literature

Abstract

Case: A 3-year-old boy underwent emergency external ventricular drainage and excision of a fourth ventricle anaplastic ependymoma. A week later, the child was given a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt. Fourteen days after shunting, the child developed a subphrenic abscess and acute cholecystitis that required surgery.

Results: A Staphylococcus epidermidis was isolated both from the ventricular catheter and CSF and from the subphrenic abscess and the gallbladder. To our knowledge, this is the first report of cholecystitis evolving as a descending shunt infection. The current literature related with this unique complication is briefly reviewed.