Early fault prediction and detection of hydrocephalus shunting system

Abdel Rahman Alkharabsheh, Lina Momani, Waleed Al-Nuaimy, Jafar Ababneh, Tariq Alwada’n, Abeer Hawatmeh

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Faculty of Science and Information Technology, The World Islamic Sciences and Education Technology, Amman, Jordan.
Mechatronics Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Al-Balqa’ Applied University, Amman, Jordan.

DOI: 10.4236/jbise.2013.63036                

Abstract

Trends of various intracranial pressure (ICP) parameters for high pressure hydrocephalus patients are utilized to detect various shunt faults in their early stages, as well as, to monitor the effect of such faults on shunt performance. A method was proposed to predict the time required for ICP to be abnormal and for the valve to reach full blockage condition. Furthermore, an auto valve schedule updating method is proposed and used to temporarily deal with detected faults until the patient is checked up by his/her physician. The proposed algorithms were evaluated using numerical simulation.

Keywords

Hydrocephalus Shunts; Shunt Malfunctions; Faults Detection

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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