Third Ventriculostomy Versus Shunt for Children With Hydrocephalus
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01801267. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy Versus Ventricular Shunt for Children With Communicating Hydrocephalus
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Ventriculoperitoneal shunts are the standard of care for patients with communicating hydrocephalus, but they have a high failure rate - up to 40% fail within 1 year and 50% fail within 2 years. It has long been assumed that endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) would not work in this population and is better suited to patients with obstructive hydrocephalus (such as from a tumor blocking cerebral-spinal fluid (CSF) pathways). However, as scientists learn more about CSF and the way our brains absorb this fluid, they have learned that this may not be so straight-forward. Recent small studies have shown that ETVs can work in a good percentage of children with communicating hydrocephalus, too. But no randomized controlled trials have been done to compare these two treatments directly to determine which will provide children with a better prognosis, fewer surgeries over their lifetime, less time in the hospital and the greatest chance at as normal a life as possible. The investigators will conduct a trial to compare these two surgical treatments where patients will be randomized to receive either a shunt or an ETV. Because ETV has been shown to have a high failure rate in newborns, the investigators will not include these patients and instead will study patients who come to Duke University with communicating hydrocephalus between the ages of 1 year and 18 years. The study will include patients with ventricular shunts who are in need of revision and patients who were just diagnosed and need their first shunt. All patients who agree to participate will be randomized to receive either an ETV or a shunt. The study team will follow them for one year from the time of the surgery and will determine what percentage of patients require further CSF-related surgeries, how long they go after their surgery before they need another surgery, how much time they spend in the hospital and what percentage of patients suffer CSF-infections or other problems related to the surgery or their hydrocephalus. The study team will examine these results and determine if ETV is a safer or more effective treatment for children with communicating hydrocephalus than is a ventricular shunt.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT01801267
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 8 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) Procedure
- Ventricular shunt Procedure
Procedure
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 1 Year to 18 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Jul 31, 2013
- Primary completion
- Nov 30, 2015
- Completion
- Nov 30, 2015
- Last update posted
- Mar 7, 2016
2013 – 2015
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke University Medical Center | Durham | North Carolina | 27710 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01801267, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Mar 7, 2016 · Synced Sep 7, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT01801267 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.