Investigation of effect on magnetic field on cerebral shunts

Hydrocephalus is the result of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulation in the ventricles due to the imbalance between the production and absorption of CSF. Since it is not possible to restore the circulation of CSF in the majority of patients, transfer to another body cavity from the brain of the fluid is provided by systems called shunts. Many shunt valves are used in neurosurgical applications. The most preferred of these are conventional constant pressure shunts and programmable shunts. The pressure settings of the programmable shunt valves can be made without any surgical or interventional procedures, taking into account the clinical and radiological findings of the patient. Valves with a magnetic field principle can change in pressure settings without undue and often unnoticed in environments with very high magnetic fields. Many studies in the literature show that unwanted opening pressure changes in programmable valves occur most often during MR imaging. However, in parallel with the increase in the diversity of devices used in our daily lives, it has been reported that different devices, besides MR imaging, performed this effect especially in recent years. In this study, the effects of non-ionizing magnetic field producing devices such as smartphones, headphones, etc. on the programmable cerebral shunts were investigated.