This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
This recent, brief volume is a welcome addition to the series of technical monographs on neurosurgical procedures. Ten years ago, when Torkildsen conceived and carried out his first ventriculocisternostomy, no satisfactory solution had been found for the treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus. The best earlier palliative procedure had been Dandy's method of draining the dilated third ventricle into the cisterna interpeduncularis, behind, or the cisterna chiasmaticus, in front, whereby Stookey and Scarff, as well as White and Michelsen, had obtained a limited number of successful results. This operation, however, had its limitations, as it did not permit preliminary exploration of the posterior fossa. In cases of obstructing tumor at the base of the third ventricle, such as the craniopharyngioma, it could not be used at all.
Torkildsen's method of draining the dilated posterior horn of a lateral ventricle by means of a rubber catheter passed beneath the scalp, with its inferior