A lost '1/4' brain makes the doctor confused

The results showed that the left brain lobe of an 84-year-old man (Northern Ireland) suddenly disappeared, causing shock to the doctors.

Recently, 84-year-old man felt unstable health. He kept falling, his left hand and legs seemed weak.

He has a fairly healthy lifestyle. He did not smoke, rarely drank alcohol, the blood test results did not show anything unusual."There is no confusion, debilitating on the face or language disorder. His appearance is also very balanced and healthy, he said to exercise moderately, live with his wife and two sons" , the doctors Summary in Medical BMJ magazine.

In other words, the doctors thought that there was no reason for the strange situation of the old man, or that they were missing at some stage. Finally, they gave him a CT scan and brain MRI. The results stunned the doctors: the old man's left lobe was completely empty.

His brain CT scan showed an empty hole.(Photo: BMJ).

Finlay Brown, the doctor who worked in the emergency room of Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, couldn't believe his eyes, had to watch his grandfather's brain scan with his colleagues.'We are really confused with what we just saw ,' Dr. Brown told The Washington Post.

The doctors asked the old man, whether he had had a cranial surgery, or had a birth defect related to the brain. Song, the old man said he never had any problems like that.

Doctors diagnosed him may have pneumocephalus - a gas in the skull . This phenomenon of gas condensation often occurs for patients with brain surgery. It can also occur after a sinus infection, head or face injury, but usually small air sacs, not so big. In this case, the hole in the patient's brain measured about 8.9 cm, accounting for nearly the entire left lobe.

"During my studies and years of practice, I have never seen such a case," Dr. Brown said.

This air bag is formed as a benign bone tumor . The formation and location of the tumor has created a one-way valve effect that gradually forms an air cavity inside the skull. Over the years, every time a patient smells, sneezes or coughs, they push a small amount of air into this air chamber.

According to research by BMJ, the air cavity is sometimes the cause of a stroke. Resulting in patients with weakened left limbs with some symptoms similar to the old man.

Dr. Brown said the patient needed surgery. Firstly surgery to extract the air bags inside the head, then to remove airbags. However, the old man refused because of his advanced age. The doctor prescribed him a prescription to avoid a stroke.

"The old man's non-surgical option is only temporary because the risk of brain infection is very likely to be due to an easily accessible airway into the brain, bacteria and viruses , " said Brown. .

Fortunately, after 12 weeks from the hospital discharge, the patient did not experience any complications and is gradually recovering function in the left limb.

Brown told LiveScience that he wanted to publish the study to emphasize "the importance of thorough patient screening".