Chinese Woman born without a cerebellum

Doctors have identified a 24-year-old who appears to have been born with part of her brain missing.

Damage to the brain can quickly prove fatal, but one woman in China appears to have gone through her whole life with a rather large and vital area of her brain missing completely.

The 24-year-old had originally visited a clinic because she had been suffering from nausea and vertigo, but when doctors examined her and conducted an MRI scan of her brain they were amazed to discover that her cerebellum, the part of the brain responsible for fine motor movements, wasn't there at all.

She is one of only a few people in the whole world to have ever been diagnosed with the condition. Despite experiencing some mild impairments through her life such as difficulties walking steadily and issues with pronouncing words, the woman had otherwise lead a normal life with few ill-effects. She had even been married and had given birth to a child who was perfectly healthy.

Due to the extreme rarity of the condition there is no current medical explanation for how it occurs nor how an individual can function relatively normally with such a large part of their brain missing.

Source: www.unexplained-mysteries.com...

It's an interesting story, so I thought I would share it.

But how on earth is this possible?
She is 24 and is completely normal minus some minor balance issues.
Did other parts of the brain take over the job for controlling fine motor skills?

This proves to me that we still don't know all there is to know about the brain.


Oh and TGIF

This is pretty amazing.

I wonder how her husband took the news. I can just hear him now kicking back with beer making jokes about the gal he married with half a brain. LOL

a reply to: Rainbowresidue

Hmmm...

I wonder if during the process of construction, the elements which make up the cerebellum refused to form normally, and the structures which would ordinarily comprise it merely became one with the surrounding tissues of the brain. This may explain why the subject suffers from some impairment of motor function, but not a total failure. Alternatively, the rest of the brain may, in extremis be able to compensate to some degree for the missing section as part and parcel of its unified function as a single mass.

It is certainly a very interesting ailment, and I would love to see what research reveals in time.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Did you ever consider medical school? I bet you'd make a fine doctor.

It is certainly a very interesting ailment, and I would love to see what research reveals in time.

Neuroscience/neurophysiology is a wide-open field for discovery. Hard to find people with these kinds of conditions who are willing to be studied. Did you ever see that movie called Phenomenon?

Interesting...

Throughout my years as a vet I have seen a couple of cases like this in different species... mainly primate and canine...

What was noticed also was a slight difference in balance and also more agressiveness...

In animals this agressiveness was observed by myself and very experienced animal welfare officers as being expressed by the following :

During clinical observations it was observed that these animals expressed their needs and emotions by being agressive (as we see/saw it)... (Biting, growling, snarling, scratching, dribbling etc...)) as this was the only way that they could express themselves (according to our understanding as humans at the time...)

Concerning Functional hemisphectories :

About 85% of people who have a functional hemispherectomy will experience significant improvement in their seizures, and about 60% will become seizure-free. In many cases, especially in children, the remaining side of the brain takes over the tasks that were controlled by the section that was removed. This often improves a child's functioning and quality of life, as well as reduces or eliminates the seizures.

What Are the Side Effects of a Functional Hemispherectomy?

The following symptoms may occur after a functional hemispherectomy, although they generally go away over time and with therapy:

Scalp numbness.

Nausea.

Muscle weakness on the affected side of the body.

Puffy eyes.

Feeling tired or depressed.

Difficulty speaking, remembering, or finding words.

Headaches.

Some of these symptoms were observed in primates/other species as well as humans and as I stated earlier could be observed (animals) only by experienced staff with many years of animal care...

The most amazing/disturbing observation at that time was to note upon autopsy that some of these animals just had an empty space in the cranial cavity full of Cerebrospinal fluid...

The wonders of mother nature...

I can only hope that this young lady will make to a ripe old age of over 90 without too many difficulties (which I think will not be a problem with healthy living)

Kindest respects

Rodinus

a reply to: Rodinus

Thanks for taking your time to share this great information Rodinus.

originally posted by: Snarl
Did you ever consider medical school? I bet you'd make a fine doctor.

He drinks too much.

a reply to: Snarl

When I was ten, I considered a career in many of the scientific fields. However, a combination of factors prevented my advancing my knowledge base at a rate which would have allowed me access to further education, and the qualifications required in order to study for any of those areas of interest.

Since then, the requirements of living have somewhat stifled my ambition for learning, although it must be said that there is, these days, very little one cannot learn from the internet, and I take full advantage of that fact as often as possible!

This story made me think of the research in Russia.
A person was able to 'read' words printed on paper with their fingertips, despite being totally blind. Other blind people were able to tell colors with their fingertips, palm of their hand, or soles of their feet.
Amazing what we can do when we set our mind to it!

She is one of only a few people in the whole world to have ever been diagnosed with the condition.

Just wondering if they analyzed everyone in Congress. It may skew the numbers upward.

Amazing share! I would think that these cases are not as detrimental since the abnormalities formed and were adjusted during the prenatal state of development. There DNA programming may have had a glitch but at that early level of gestation, it had the means to naturally create necessary connections.

Study should be done in this area, since understanding may further assist the future treatments of those that have strokes, brain injuries, or other issues that occur after birth. Science imitating nature may provide the answer!

The fact that she lived almost a normal life means that our current understanding of the brain is flawed. If it wasn't flawed this woman would not exist at that age and condition.

I like when some real evidence like this comes up to disprove tens of thousands of highly educated individuals. Ones who all have been led to believe in something that is not right. This will disappear soon with none of these people ever saying that they were wrong at all. They will make up some reason why she is special and that this does not apply to anyone else, or call it a hoax.

a reply to: Rodinus

No way am I going to let anyone give me a hemispherectomy to stop my Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. I suppose if I went to the doctor to ask about this, they would set it up. I learned to live with this problem and pretty well control it with diet and learning not to bring up my energy level of the body too much.

One doctor told me before that they will be having a procedure where they burn some connection or something in the brain, maybe this is related to this procedure somehow. He said he wouldn't advise it since I don't have Grand Mal seizures. But some doctors would probably think this was a good idea.

a reply to: Rainbowresidue

No, this helps to prove that we know SO little compared to what we think we know that it's laughable...

If we knew 2% of what we think we know, we would be in a Utopian world...

Jaden