Shunt Tap

Indications and Contraindications

A shunt tap has both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Two commonly encountered reasons to tap a shunt include determining if there is proper flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the shunt and sampling the CSF for diagnostic studies. A shunt reservoir may also be accessed to inject a radiotracer for shunt patency studies.

Contraindications to a shunt tap include bacteremia, scalp infection overlying the shunt, a non-accessible shunt reservoir, a lack of shunt reservoir to access, and coagulopathy. Small ventricular size may be a relative contraindication.

Stepwise Procedure ( Video 77.1 )