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 ...
I think those pictures might be ‘before’ and ‘after’ my first cup of coffee every morning. :(
The article says he has an IQ of 75. Probably doesn’t have an MA in math....
This story gives me hope.
He worked with what he had and should be Commended!
More than any Hairdresser or Singer or Fashion Queen this man should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize!
There is Precedence #1 Rush Limbaugh (nominated even though he has 1/2 of his Brain tied behind his back), Jimmy Carter and AlGore (both are Mental Midgets) the list is long...
This guy should awarded something!
TT
Great minds think alike. You beat me by 39 seconds.
How about in politics? Sociology? Education?
No surprise IMO.
My thoughts exactly!
Would Joe Wilson be categorized as a civil servant?
Terri Schiavo had more brain tissue that this man.
Gee, he might be the world’s first known case of walking PVS
Yeah, it's a no-brainer.
It’s possible all right. The fact is you cannot tell by looking at the brain what are the capabilities of the individual.
As Larry the Cable Guy says
Tommy the retard
Had an eight pound water head
He was 5 foot 3
And he said to me
I like Tater Tots
LOL. Homer was the first thing that went through my mind when I read the title!
You got it exactly right.
You got it exactly right.
do they mean him?
No Matter............*cough*
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