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The man with a hole in his brain

Scans reveal a fluid-filled cavity in the brain of a normal man

Three years ago, a 44-year-old man was admitted to hospital in Marseille, France, complaining of weakness in his left leg. He had no idea what doctors would find to be the source of the problem: a huge pocket of fluid where most of his brain ought to be.

read the story here

Posted by Katharine Sanderson on July 20, 2007 10:30 AM |

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This case is certainly not unique. There was a BBC Panorama programme, circa 1978, about a bunch of children who had drainage valves installed to counter hydrocephalis in the early 1960s. With the advent of CAT scans, they were re-examined. The brightest of them was reading maths at Oxford, and had 10% of normal brain volume, just like the guy in the article. His visual centres got reused for doing sums when his eyes were closed!

Posted by: Alan Carter | July 23, 2007 04:12 PM

I recall seeing a similar, but perhaps even more striking story on the Annenberg Channel: http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=1575 .
I am curious about what experts say about these reports.

Posted by: Bo Sundborg | July 23, 2007 10:17 PM

The Anneberg Channel video was very interesting. Timestamps on the UK CAT scans are in 1980, matching the mother's smock dress, and the era of the Panorama programme. The HP inkjet printer and mixed floppy drives in the US case suggest late 1980s.

It looks like this phenomenon was discovered 30 years ago, explored for 10 years, and then forgotten! I've seen other cases which suggest that the focus on administration and grant cycles has displaced the pursuit of knowledge, such that science is currently moving backwards.

Posted by: Alan Carter | July 24, 2007 01:01 PM

yes the Brits were on top of this...2cm of cortex found patients functional

Posted by: Dr Phil Siegel | July 25, 2007 01:07 PM

i was told in oct 2006 i had a hole in my brain by a neuo.dr. and he said i don't know what caused that and that was it. no more test and would not talk about it. how scare is that!!!!!! anybody can help me.

Posted by: tammy dg dunlap | September 5, 2007 05:04 AM

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