Hydrocephalus after Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease

A fearsome complication of deep brain stimulation (DBS) constitutes intracranial hemorrhage. Incidence rates vary between 0.5% and 5%, with 1.1% of cases resulting in permanent deficit or death. Intracranial hemorrhage can present asymptomatically or result in fatal outcome. A rare complication in this setting is acute hydrocephalus due to obstruction of the cerebrospinal fluid flow. This complication might have catastrophic consequences resulting in death in a few hours if not an external ventricular drainage promptly is placed. We report a patient with acute hydrocephalus due to intraventricular hemorrhage after the DBS procedure. Patients should be warned of this complication when informed consent is obtained.