Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery
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Ventricular catheter drainage holes of shunt systems used to treat hydrocephalus obstruct with tissue commonly comprising monocytes/macrophages, astrocytes, and giant cells. Despite high rates of obstruction, very few studies have manipulated drainage hole orientation, number, position, or diameter. By altering the hole diameter but maintaining a constant hole surface area, we manipulated shear stress through the holes, which we hypothesized would change the degree of macrophage and astrocyte attachment. ⋯ This study suggests that macrophage and astrocyte adhesion generally decreases with increasing hole diameter under flow conditions and underscores the necessity for future work to examine how hole diameter impacts inflammatory-based shunt obstruction.