Twee gevallen van shunt-nefritis

– ‘Acute’ nephritis was diagnosed in two patients, a female aged 23 and a male aged 29 years, with ventriculo-atrial shunts in situ because of intracranial hypertension after brain surgery. Both showed impaired renal function. Renal biopsies revealed mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis. After removal of the drains as sources of bacteriaemia, renal function improved and the urinary sediment returned to normal. Subsequently, neither patient required insertion of a new drain, because the circulation of the CSF was no longer abnormal. The literature, also, shows that in shunt nephritis, a ventriculo-atrial drain should be removed.