TY - JOUR T1 - Short answer question case series: a complex case of fever and headache JF - Emergency Medicine Journal JO - Emerg Med J SP - 1080 LP - 1081 DO - 10.1136/emermed-2011-200277 VL - 28 IS - 12 AU - Paul Rohdenberg AU - Moses Graubard AU - Timothy Jang Y1 - 2011/12/01 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/28/12/1080.abstract N2 - A 21-year-old man with a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt, status post resection of a childhood ‘brain tumor’ complains of headache, photophobia, neck stiffness, fatigue and nausea. He is febrile to 38.2°C, but has several family members with fever, rhinorrhoea, vomiting and diarrhoea who were diagnosed yesterday with the ‘flu.’What must you consider in this patient?How should this patient be evaluated?What should the disposition be?1. In this patient, VP shunt malfunction and infection must be considered since severe morbidity or mortality can occur if either goes undetected or untreated. Symptoms of acute shunt obstruction include headache, vomiting, papilloedema, cranial nerve VI palsy, change in personality and the ‘setting sun’ sign (lack of upward gaze) in infants. Shunt malfunction may be caused by obstruction, fracture, migration or kinking of the tubing, or damage to the shunt apparatus itself. Most shunt obstructions occur in the ventricular catheter by invasion of glioependymal tissue. The most common locations for distal tube fracture include the occipito-cervical junction, the base of the neck and the junction between the inferior border of the ribs and the abdominal wall.The vast … ER -