A girl who had lived with a brain shunt since she was 2 years old suddenly developed headaches, vomiting, dizziness, and worsening vision at age 9. Scans showed why: calcium had built up along the tubing, from inside her brain down through her neck, and the shunt was no longer keeping fluid in check.
The case was published August 12, 2026, in Cureus by Fernando Sandoval Martinez, a general practice doctor with the U.K.'s National Health Service in London, and neurosurgeon Jose de Jesus Lomeli Ramirez of Hospital Vossan in Campeche, Mexico. Because the hardened catheter was stuck in place, surgeons left it where it was and installed a new shunt on the other side of her head.
