Abstract
The first endoscopic procedure done in Malaysia using the Caemaert-Abdullah method
is reported and the followup results showed an excellent neurosurgical outcome. A
16-year-old girl with an aqueduct stenosis was operated on using a free-hand, computer-assisted
endoscopic method where a third ventriculostomy was done. This was the first case
being carried out in the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. The next two cases were
a suprasellar pituitary cyst in an elderly man and a child with an obstructive hydrocephalus
who was previously shunted which became infected. Both endoscopic procedures, extirpation
of the cyst using a Nd:Yag laser and a third ventriculostomy, repectively, were done
under general anaesthesia in the supine position. Follow-up revealed a transient diabetis
insipidus in all three cases up to 48 hours after the operation which resolved spontaneously.
The fourth case involved an endoscopic removal of retained ventricular catheter after
rectal migration of a shunt in an eight-year-old girl with congenital hydrocephalus.
The fifth was a free-hand endoscopy with Perforation of multiple brain septae in a
tenmonth-old baby with hydrocephalus secondary to meningitis. The final outcomes for
all the cases were favourable hence we conclude that endoscopic neurosurgery is a
safe procedure and hope that more neurosurgeons will continue to use this method,
especially for the management of intraventricular cyst and hydrocephalus and especially
in South East Asia.
Key words
Ventriculoscopy - Hydrocephalus - Cyst - Endoscopic Neurosurgery
