New design principle could prevent catheter failure in brain shunts

For medical professionals treating hydrocephalus—a chronic neurological condition caused by an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), resulting in pressure on the brain—there have been a limited range of treatment options. The most common is the surgical placement of a medical device called a shunt, a sort of flexible tube, which is placed in the ventricular system of the brain, diverting the flow of CSF from the brain to elsewhere in the body.