The ETV (endoscopic third ventriculostomy) is when the neurosurgeon makes a burr hole incision in the base (floor) of your third ventricle and watches the CSF pulsate through the opening for several minutes then he/she back tracks out of the brain and close you up. If the burr hole stays opened and your neurosurgeon believes it will not complicate matter your shunt can be removed. The ETV is an alternative to a shunt but there are many flaws and some complications. Basically it depends on the patient outcome and how they have dealt with hydrocephalus up to that point.

The Hydrocephalus Association Fact Sheet says:
In endoscopic third ventriculostomy, a small perforation is made in the thinned floor of the third ventricle, allowing movement of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) out of the blocked ventricular system and into the interpenducular cistern (a normal CSF space). Cerebrospinal fluid within the ventricle
is thus diverted elsewhere in an attempt to bypass an obstruction in the aqueduct of Sylvius and thereby relieve pressure. The objective of this procedure, called an “intracranial CSF diversion,”
is to normalize pressure on the brain without using a shunt. Endoscopic third ventriculostomy is not a cure for hydrocephalus, but rather an alternate treatment.

For more information go to there website hydrocassoc.org