Surgical Treatment of Long-Standing Overt Ventriculomegaly in Adults (LOVA): A Comparative Case Series between Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt (VPS) and Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV)

Background: Long-standing overt ventriculomegaly in adults (LOVA) is an uncommon type of adult chronic hydrocephalus. In recent years, conflicting case series described different outcomes after treatment of LOVA with endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) or ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS). The aim of this study is to report a single institutional surgical experience of patients with LOVA in order to evaluate the clinical outcome of those patients treated with one or, sometimes, both surgical procedures, analyzing the main clinical features of these patients, before and after surgery. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on 31 patients with diagnosis of LOVA, who were treated in our University Hospital between December 2010 and October 2020. We reported gender, age, clinical presentation, surgical treatment, and clinical outcome according to the Kiefer index (KI). Evans’ index, head circumference, aqueductal stenosis and expanded/destroyed sella turcica were assessed on preoperative MRI. Results: The most common clinical manifestation was gait disturbances (100%) followed by urinary incontinence in 23 (74.2%) patients and cognitive deficits in 22 (71%) patients. On preoperative MRI, the overall mean Evans’s Index was 0.49, whereas the overall mean head circumference was 57.3 cm. Twenty-three patients (74.2%) had obliterated cortical sulci, 20 (64.5%) patients had aqueductal stenosis, and 22 (71%) patients had an expanded/destroyed sella turcica on preoperative MRI. Fifteen (48.4%) patients underwent ETV and sixteen (51.6%) were treated with VPS as first surgical procedure. Four (26.6%) out of fifteen patients treated with ETV required a subsequent VPS. The overall median age of patients was 64 (IQR: 54.5–74) and the overall median follow-up was 57 months (IQR 21.5–81.5). Overall morbidity was 22.5%. Mean recovery index (RI), according to KI, was 3.8 ± 4.3 and 2.2 ± 5.6 ( p = 0.05) at last follow-up in patients treated with ETV and VPS, respectively. Conclusions: The choice of surgical treatment of LOVA remains under discussion. Although EVT is a tempting option for patients with LOVA, conversion to VP shunt is not uncommon.