Christina Santhouse underwent an anatomic hemispherectomy, in which the entire cerebral hemisphere was removed.
Can you live a normal life after a hemispherectomy?
What to expect after the surgery. For many children a hemispherectomy can be a life-saving operation that can allow the child to lead a far more normal life. Often children are seizure free following the surgery. However, there are children who continue to have seizures even after the surgery.
What is Rasmussen syndrome?
Rasmussen encephalitis, sometimes referred to as Rasmussen syndrome, is a rare disorder of the central nervous system characterized by chronic progressive inflammation (encephalitis) of one cerebral hemisphere.
Can you have half your brain removed?
A hemispherectomy is a rare surgery where half of the brain is either removed or disconnected from the other half. It’s performed on children and adults who have seizures that don’t respond to medicine.
What happens when a girl has half of her brain removed?
Epileptic Girl Who Had Half Her Brain Removed Can Read After Organ Rewired Itself. The brains of children have a remarkable ability to rewire. That’s according to scientists that studied children who were able to read despite having part of the organ removed to treat severe epilepsy.
What is removed in a hemispherectomy?
A hemispherectomy is a radical surgical procedure where the diseased half of the brain is completely removed, partially removed and fully disconnected or just disconnected from the normal hemisphere. This is one of the most successful operations at stopping seizures in carefully selected patients.
What is the success rate of hemispherectomy?
Behaviors and anti-epilepsy medications Because hemispherectomy surgery has only a 50 – 85% success rate, many children remain on anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) after the procedure.
Who performs a hemispherectomy?
Complete removal of one hemisphere has some associated complications, so some neurosurgeons prefer to perform a functional hemispherectomy, in which only some sections of the brain are removed and other sections are disconnected.
Who invented hemispherectomy?
The first known hemispherectomy was performed on a dog in 1888 by German physiologist Friedrich Goltz. In humans, neurosurgeon Walter Dandy pioneered the operation at Johns Hopkins University in 1923 on a brain tumor patient. (That man lived for more than three years before ultimately succumbing to cancer.)
What is West syndrome?
West syndrome is a constellation of symptoms characterized by epileptic/infantile spasms, abnormal brain wave patterns called hypsarrhythmia and intellectual disability.
What is an Astatic seizure?
The seizures can be of different types. They include jerks (myoclonic seizures), sudden falls to the ground (atonic or astatic seizures), or sometimes a jerk followed by a fall (myoclonic-astatic seizure). Absence seizures can happen (when consciousness is lost briefly).
What is Panayiotopoulos syndrome?
Background: Panayiotopoulos syndrome is a common idiopathic childhood-specific seizure disorder formally recognized by the International League Against Epilepsy. An expert consensus has defined Panayiotopoulos syndrome as a benign age-related focal seizure disorder occurring in early and mid-childhood.
Can you live without a brain?
Since it controls vital functions such as breathing, swallowing, digestion, eye movement and heartbeat, there can be no life without it. But the rest of the brain is obviously capable of some remarkable feats, with one part able to compensate for deficiencies in another.
How much do brains weigh?
An adult brain weighs about 3 pounds The cerebrum makes up 85% of the brain’s weight, and the brain makes up about 2% of a human’s body weight. The texture of the brain is like a firm jelly. The heaviest normal human brain weighed 4.43 pounds.
What is this cerebrum?
(seh-REE-brum) The largest part of the brain. It is divided into two hemispheres, or halves, called the cerebral hemispheres. Areas within the cerebrum control muscle functions and also control speech, thought, emotions, reading, writing, and learning.
Can a baby live with half a brain?
By some estimates the human cerebellum contains half the brain cells you have. This isn’t just brain damage the whole structure is absent. Yet this woman lives a normal life; she graduated from school, got married and had a kid following an uneventful pregnancy and birth.
Can adults have a hemispherectomy?
Hemispherectomy in adults is a safe and effective procedure, with seizure freedom rates and functional outcome similar to those observed in children.
What is a craniotomy?
A craniotomy is the surgical removal of part of the bone from the skull to expose the brain. Specialized tools are used to remove the section of bone called the bone flap. The bone flap is temporarily removed, then replaced after the brain surgery has been done.
How is hemispherectomy done?
An incision will be made and a craniotomy will be performed (removal of a piece of the skull that will be replaced at the end of the surgery). The surgeon may remove some parts of the brain and disconnect other parts. The corpus callosum will be cut to prevent the spread of seizures to the functional side of the brain.
What are the advantages of a hemispherectomy?
The key advantages of this approach compared to the Rasmussen’s classic functional hemispherectomy are smaller exposure, shorter operative time, and lower blood loss. The efficacy of functional hemispherectomy procedures in achieving seizure freedom appears to be at least as good compared to resective procedures.
What are the risks of a hemispherectomy?
Risks of Hemispherectomy
- No improvement in seizures.
- Brain swelling.
- Damage to the healthy half of the brain.
- Numbness in the scalp.
- Feelings of depression and tiredness.
- Functional problems with speech, language, memory, and peripheral vision.
- Headaches and nausea.
- Puffiness around the eyes.
Can Hemimegalencephaly cause death?
Although there have been a few reports of medical treatment, the main treatment is radical: remove or disconnect the affected side. However, it has a high mortality, and there have been reports of a vegetative state and seizures resuming, this time in the healthy hemisphere.
How is Hemimegalencephaly diagnosed?
In general, the presence of HME is definitively diagnosed by brain MRI. With the evolution of more widespread fetal imaging including ultrasound and MRI, a number of HME cases are detected prenatally.
What happens to the brain after hemispherectomy?
If left untreated, seizures can cause more damage to a child’s brain and disrupt their cognitive development. This can lead to more severe disability. Hemispherectomy can potentially stop the seizures. This can give the brain a chance to reorganize and develop without ongoing disruption.
How common is a hemispherectomy?
Hemispherectomy is a very rare neurosurgical procedure in which a cerebral hemisphere (half of the upper brain, or cerebrum) is removed, disconnected, or disabled.
What causes Hydranencephaly?
Hydranencephaly is considered to be an extreme form of porencephaly (a rare disorder characterized by a cyst or cavity in the cerebral hemispheres) and may be caused by vascular infections or traumatic disorders after the 12th week of pregnancy.
How long does it take to recover from a hemispherectomy?
Most people feel normal and can go back to work, school, and their usual lives about 6 to 8 weeks after surgery. You’ll most likely have to keep taking your seizure medication for at least 2 years, even if you don’t have any seizures.
Is the brain lateralized?
Lateralization of brain function is the view that functions are performed by distinct regions of the brain. … It contrasts with the holistic theory of the brain, that all parts of the brain are involved in the processing of thought and action. The human brain is split into two hemispheres, right and left.
