Malak bint Khalid Al-Ismaili, a final-year student at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been awarded the Clinical Excellence Award in Research at the 21st Regional Meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Medical Students’ Associations (EMR21) for her research on ‘Abdominal Pseudocyst Post Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt’.

Her study involved over 200 cases and presented a systematic review spanning 50 years of abdominal pseudocyst cases, a rare complication of ventriculoperitoneal shunts used to treat hydrocephalus. The research analysed cases recorded between 1969 and 2022, involving 208 patients, the majority of whom were children (62.8%). The study identified infections and inflammation as the primary factors contributing to these complications.

The findings revealed that diagnoses were predominantly made using CT scans (65.38%). Treatment approaches varied, ranging from surgery to shunt rerouting, with a success rate of 71.2% and a relapse rate of 9.1%.

Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients who underwent repeated shunt revisions were more likely to develop abdominal pseudocysts within a shorter timeframe, whereas the age of the patient or the initial surgery did not significantly impact the speed of onset of this condition.

The researchers emphasised the importance of early screening and continuous monitoring, particularly for patients undergoing repeated revisions, to facilitate early diagnosis and mitigate the risks of these rare complications.