Team: Lienna Chan, Sasha Demeulenaere, Amanda Fazekas, Christine Giuliano, and Nishi Juthani

Client: Sunghoon Kim, M.D, Division of Pediatric Surgery, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland

“Hydrocephalus is a serious neurological condition characterized by the accumulation of

cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain, usually due to blockage of drainage pathways, which can lead to neurologic and cognitive deficits. The current standard of care is the surgical placement of a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt that drains the CSF from the brain ventricles into other body cavities, most commonly the peritoneum. Within two years, however, a revision surgery is most often necessary due to obstruction of the device.

Given the extremely high rates of shunt failure and the risks associated with invasive shunt diagnostic and repair methods, there lies a need for a device which effectively eliminates excess CSF from the brain of pediatric patients diagnosed with hydrocephalus, in order to prevent frequent reoperation throughout their lifetimes.”