In our surgical experience, ETV has been uniformly successful in the management of hydrocephalus caused by tectal plate gliomas in children. ETV should be considered the treatment of choice for hydrocephalus in pediatric patients with tectal plate gliomas.

These preliminary data suggest that PCR is a highly sensitive, rapid, and potentially promising modality for the detection and treatment of CSF shunt ventriculostomy infection.

A regimen of minor analgesic therapy, given in alternating doses every 2 hours immediately after craniotomy and throughout hospitalization, significantly reduced postoperative pain scores and LOS in children in whom suboccipital craniotomy was performed. Narcotic and antiemetic requirements were also decreased in association with this regimen. Application of this postoperative analgesia protocol may benefit children and adults in whom various similar neurosurgical procedures are required.

We believe the benefits afforded by ventriculosubgaleal shunting significantly outweigh the risks of the procedure and greatly ease the burden of care for this select population of children. Based on the literature and our own experience, the complications from this procedure are not excessive or extraordinarily unique compared with other neurosurgical CSF diversion techniques.

We present the progressive clinical course of a child with myelopathy attributable to cervical spine abnormalities associated with Larsen's syndrome. After anterior and posterior cervical fusion, his preoperative symptoms of weakness, gait dysfunction, and hyperreflexia have improved at 9-month follow-up. The progressive course and importance of early referral and intervention should be of interest to the general pediatric community.