“Tablet devices may alter programmable shunt valve settings,” thus concludes a study just published online in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. Although it may seem far-fetched to study the effect of the small magnets embedded in an iPad on programmable shunt devices used in children to treat hydrocephalus, this study was actually initiated after a 4-month-old girl presented with altered shunt settings, presumably due to her mother holding an iPad while holding her baby at the same time.
