# How I do it: continuous intraventricular interferon alpha infusion in pediatric patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

## TL;DR

This paper describes a surgical method for delivering interferon alpha directly into the brain of children with a rare neurological disease caused by a persistent measles virus infection.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a continuous intraventricular interferon alpha infusion technique using a subcutaneous pump for treating pediatric SSPE patients.

## Key findings

- Continuous intraventricular interferon alpha improves clinical and neuroradiological outcomes in SSPE patients.
- The surgical technique reduces the toxicity profile compared to other treatment methods.

## Abstract

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a chronic disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS) because of persistent measles virus (MeV) infection. Among the various treatment available the intraventricular interferon alpha administration demonstrated greater effectiveness.

In this article is described the step-by-step surgical technique of the positioning of an intraventricular catheter connected to a rechargeable subcutaneous pump. The main surgical steps and the pump settings are illustrated in a supplementary video.

This surgical management guarantees a continuous drug release improving the therapeutic effect in terms of clinical and neuroradiological outcome and reducing the toxicity profile.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00701-025-06693-3.