How do you determine when to transition a patient with a shunt placed at birth to an adult provider?

Ideally, when you have a pediatric patient with a longstanding shunt, you begin discussions with the family at the initial placement, helping them understand that a shunt is usually a lifelong device that will require follow-up in some manner the rest of the child's life. When the child is entering their early teenage years, I begin to discuss the need for transferring care as the child continues to age. By the time a child is 16, I actively suggest the family start identifying adult neurosurgery providers for that transition, so we can gather records and imaging for that transfer.

Depending on the adult provider, many will not take new shunt patients until they are 18, but I think transitioning any time after 16 is reasonable. Those patien...

Pediatric hospitals like to place the age up to 17 for hospitalization. Good to transition patients at this age.