SinuShunt® technology
Present day shunts cannot deliver normal physiological flow
Since the invention and introduction of cerebral shunts in the 1950s, the two most important innovations have been the addition of an anti-gravitational valve plus a feature to adjust the valve setting magnetically. Despite these innovations the clinical outcome has not improved in any significant way, and shunts continue to have an unacceptable tendency to malfunction with revisions still commonplace (30% within 6 months). Moreover, shunts fail to provide normal and controlled drainage of CSF because the drainage profile of a shunt is very different from physiological drainage. With current shunts, too much or too little CSF can be drained depending on factors such as body position or the inconstant pressure within the absorption site (heart or abdomen). This lack of synchronisation can result in large variations in intracranial pressure preventing the patient from leading a normal life.
SinuShunt®: Following the principle of physiological drainage
The SinuShunt® mimics normal physiological absorption of CSF by draining into the intracranial sinus vein. There are three important advantages: (i) the differential pressure variation between the ventricles and the absorption site is minimised, (ii) the detrimental siphon effect is eliminated, and (iii) the unfavourable peritoneal cavity is avoided as a drainage site. The SinuShunt can therefore operate independently of any arbitrary physical forces which can affect standard VP (as well as VA) shunts.
Shunting to the sinus vein is an obvious solution since it mimics normal CSF drainage. Different researchers have recognised this and have tested the concept over recent decades, but all concluded that despite the patient experiencing clinical benefit, a shunt outlet could not last in the intracranial sinus vein, and that it would eventually become enveloped in endothelium, usually within 3 months.
Based on our own comprehensive clinical experiences with the first generation SinuShunt® (tested on 110 patients), we have now developed a new generation of the device to overcome this technical shortfall of the outlet becoming overgrown. The new SinuShunt® is designed to keep the outlet in the middle of the vein, preventing contact with the wall of the vein and ensuring the CSF flows unhindered.