Transoral migration of peritoneal end of ventriculoperitoneal shunt with perforation of gastro-esophageal junction: a case report of a rare complication

Abstract

A rare complication of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt is presented. A 11-year old boy presented with a tube coming out of the mouth. He had multiple VP shunt done earlier. Clinical features, laboratory investigations and imaging studies showed that the peritoneal end had perforated the gastro-oesophageal junction and then prolapsed trans-orally. The shunt was removed and he made an uneventful recovery. Though migration of the peritoneal end of the shunt tube into various organs is known, to our knowledge, only six/seven cases have been reported in the English literature of a shunt tube coming out of the mouth and this is the next. The management of this very rare problem is discussed.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v13i4.20654Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.13(4) 2014 p.492-495