Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Oct 2024
Development of an adjustable patient-specific rigid guide to improve the accuracy of external ventricular catheter placement.
The most common method for external ventricular drain (EVD) placement is the freehand approach, which has reported inaccuracy rates of 12.3%-44.9%, especially in the case of altered ventricular anatomy. Current assistive devices require added time or equipment or do not account for shifted ventricles. To improve the accuracy of emergent EVD placement in the setting of altered ventricular anatomy, the authors designed a patient-specific EVD (PS-EVD) guide. ⋯ The PS-EVD guide allows consistent and accurate EVD placement in phantom skulls with both normal and altered ventricular anatomy. Further trials comparing this device to the freehand approach are required.