Posted on 07/20/2007 3:05:49 PM PDT by blam
Man with tiny brain shocks doctors
12:17 20 July 2007
NewScientist.com news service
New Scientist and Reuters
The large black space shows the fluid that replaced much of the patient’s brain (left). For comparison, the images (right) show a typical brain without any abnormalities (Images: Feuillet et al./The Lancet)
A man with an unusually tiny brain manages to live an entirely normal life despite his condition, which was caused by a fluid build-up in his skull.
Scans of the 44-year-old man's brain showed that a huge fluid-filled chamber called a ventricle took up most of the room in his skull, leaving little more than a thin sheet of actual brain tissue.
“It is hard for me [to say] exactly the percentage of reduction of the brain, since we did not use software to measure its volume. But visually, it is more than a 50% to 75% reduction,” says Lionel Feuillet, a neurologist at the Mediterranean University in Marseille, France.
Feuillet and his colleagues describe the case of this patient in The Lancet. He is a married father of two children, and works as a civil servant.
Not retarded
The man went to a hospital after he had mild weakness in his left leg. When Feuillet's staff took his medical history, they learned that, as an infant, he had had a shunt inserted into his head to drain away hydrocephalus – water on the brain.
The shunt was removed when he was 14. But the researchers decided to check the condition of his brain using computed tomography (CT) scanning technology and another type of scan called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They were astonished to see "massive enlargement" of the lateral ventricles – usually tiny chambers that hold the cerebrospinal fluid that cushions the brain.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Someone leaked Kerry’s medical records....... Call the NYT!
I wonder if this case will have an effect on the discussions about the capabilities of the small brained ‘Hobbits.’?
Harry? or is it Dennis? or even Johnny?
Too easy...
This may explain some things.
My first thought was Teddy.
Apparently not for me. ;-D
I’m more concerned with what this says about us with supposedly normal size brains.
I read about this guy a while back. Doesn’t he also have like a Masters in Math or something?
Truly remarkable. But look at some of the things they’re finding out about African Grays. And they’d think having a brain the size of a walnut would be a big step up!
Perhaps the other half of his brain is tied behind his back, just to make it fair.
ping
There is no scale, but it looks like the brain case is of about normal size. Its only the brain in this individual that is smaller.
Unreal. That doesn’t seem possible.
D’Oh
He better not travel to Florida. He might end up executed by state-ordered starvation/dehydration...
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