A ventriculoperitoneal shunt serves to:

• A. Monitor pressure within the skull in patients with a head injury.
• B. Prevent excess cerebrospinal fluid from accumulating in the brain.
• C. Divert cerebrospinal fluid to the ventricles of the brain.
• D. Remove fluid from the abdomen of patients with right-sided heart failure.

Answer: (B)

The ventriculoperitoneal shunt drains cerebrospinal fluid away from the brain’s ventricles to another body cavity so it can be absorbed, reducing buildup of CSF and lowering intracranial pressure. In hydrocephalus, CSF accumulates and this shunt provides a pathway to divert it, relieving the excess.

That’s why the statement describing its purpose as preventing excess CSF from accumulating in the brain is the best answer. The other options don’t fit: monitoring skull pressure is not what a shunt does (that uses a pressure monitor), diverting CSF to the ventricles is the opposite of the shunt’s direction of flow, and removing abdominal fluid for heart failure is unrelated to this device.