Image-Guided versus Freehand Ventricular Drain Insertion: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Ventricular drain insertion is a common neurosurgical procedure, typically performed using a freehand approach. Use of image guidance during drain insertion could improve accuracy and reduce the incidence of drain failure. This review aims to assess the impact of image guidance on drain placement accuracy, failure rate, and number of ventricular cannulation attempts. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library …