• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.403-412
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• 2001

The Present study analyzed the pressure-flow characteristics of a Korean shunt valve. Changes in the characteristic currie depending on the design parameters were also investigated. The Korean shunt valve used in the present study was constant pressure type and our analyses were validated through experiments. We applied fluid-structure interaction to solve the flow dynamic Problem because the small diaphragm in the valve was made from flexible silicone elastomers. Considering the material nonlinearity of the hyper-elastic material. the Mooney-Rivlin approximation was employed. The results of the numerical analyses were close to the experimental results The major Pressure drop was observed to happen in the small diaphragm. The slope of the pressure-flow characteristic curve was computed to be 0.37mm$H_2O$.hr/cc, which was similar to the average value of commercial shunt valves. 0.40mm$H_2O$.hr/cc. Therefore. our valves analyzed in the Present study showed a Proper Pressure control characteristics of the constant pressure type shunt valves. The opening pressure could be controlled by adjusting the amount of predeflection of the valve diaphragm. In order to obtain opening pressures of 25mm$H_2O$ and 80mm$H_2O$, respectively, and the required predeflection was found to be 10.2$\mu$m and 35.3$\mu$m. The flow orifice size was found to be within 10$\mu$m during valve operation Therefore, Precision design and manufacturing techniques are necessary for successful operations of the shunt valve. The study indicated the amount of predeflection as well as the magnitude of corner rounding of the diaphragm edge are important design parameters to influence the slope of the pressure-flow characteristic curve.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.391-395
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• 2002

Shunt valves used to treat patient with hydrocephalus were numerically simulated to investigate influence of pressure pulsation on their flow control characteristics. We modeled flow orifice through the shunt valve and imposed pulsating pressure and valve diaphragm movement to compute flow through the valve. The results of our study indicated that flow rates increased more than 40% by introducing pressure pulsation and diaphragm movement on the shunt valve. Our results demonstrate the pressure-flow control characteristics of shunt valves implanted above human brain may be quite different from those obtained by syringe pump test just after manufacture that induces uniform pressure.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.413-418
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• 2001

We developed shunt valves used to treat patients with hydrocephalus. The valves under development were constant Pressure type ventriculoperitoneal (VP) calves made of silicone elastomer. In vitro experiments showed that our valves had similar Pressure-flow control characteristics to the valved currently available in the market. Our valves also showed competent performance in the 28 days of continuous pumping tests acording to the IS07197 specifications. We artificially inducted hydrocephalus to a 10kg beagle do9. The size of the ventricles of the dog was substantially increased and the dog showed abnormal behavior. After our valve being implanted, the ventricles recovered regular size with the normal behavior observed in the dog. The flow orifice of the shunt valve diaphragm was in the older of 10$\mu$m during calve operation and hence the pressure-flow control characteristics tended to change by a small chance in the valve dimension. Therefore, precision design and manufacturing techniques were necessary for successful operations of the shunt valves .

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.sup2
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• pp.309-315
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• 2001

The term slit ventricle syndrome(SVS) refers to an episodic occurrence of headache, vomiting, and possibly some degree of impaired consciousness in shunted hydrocephalic children in whom slit-like ventricles are seen on CT scan or MRI. Authors present 6 cases with SVS who were treated at our institute for last 10 years. From 1986 to 1996, 821 patients underwent shunt surgery for hydrocephalus. The etiology of hydrocephalus included brain tumor(140 patients), post-hemorrhagic(62 patients), idiopathic normotensive hydrocephalus(64 patients), post-meningitic( 58 patients), post-traumatic(54 patients), congenital(48 patients), neurocysticercosis(31 patients), and unknown etiology(364 patients). During the mean follow-up duration of 68 months, 232 shunt revisions were performed by a revision rate of 1.28 per patient. The incidence of SVS was 0.7%(6 patients). Most of them have been operated on in infancy. Time interval from the first operation to the development of slit-ventricle syndrome ranged from 4 to 8 years, the mean was 6 years. Shuntogram showed patent shunt in all patients. Two patients with less severe clinical symptoms improved with conservative treatment. These patients were not measured ICP because of good hospital course. One patient showed high ICP and needed only revision with same pressure valve as previous shunt. Low ICP was noted in 3 patients. Pressure augmentation using an anti-siphon device(ASD) or upgrading valve system were necessary in these patients. The authors stress that determining type of SVS is the first step in treatment planning and that the best treatment is a strategy aimed at resolving the specific type of SVS responsible for the symptoms.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.699-702
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• 2002

Shunt valves implanted in the subcutaneous tissue of brain to treat patient with hydrocephalus were numerically simulated to investigate influence of pressure pulsation on their flow control characteristics. Shunt valves are subjected to pressure variation since ventricles enclosing the brain are under pressure pulsation rather than uniform pressure due to blood pressure variation. We modeled flow orifice through shunt valve and imposed pulsating pressure and valve diaphragm movement to compute flow through the valve. The results of our study indicated that flow rate increased by $40{\%}$ by introducing pressure pulsation and diaphragm movement on the shunt valve. Our results demonstrate the pressure-flow control characteristics of shunt valves unplanted above human brain may be quite different from the characteristics obtained by syringe pump test with uniform pressure and no diaphragm movement.