A man went to the hospital complaining of weakness on his left foot, and subsequent brain scans revealed a surprising discovery.
The man felt a weakness in the photo: Pixibay
Two weeks before going to the doctor, the man felt a slight weakness on his left foot, according to Live Science. There were no noticeable abnormalities in his medical history or in his neurological development, unless he had to be put in his head when he was 6 months old.
The shunt is a tube inserted into the spaces filled with the brain to drain the excess fluid and redirect to another part of the body. When he turned 14, the shunt was removed.
When the man reported to the doctors the weakness of his feet, the doctors made a computerized tomography and an MRI of the head. They also performed neuropsychological tests, which showed that the man’s IQ was 75, under the average score of 100.
“Diagnosis: Doctors established that the patient was living with a brain that had at least half of the average size”writes the quoted publication.
Cerebral scans also highlighted a large accumulation of fluid in its brain, which left a little room for tissues. Thus, the patient only remained with a thin sheet of brain tissue pushed against the skull.
According to scans, cavities filled with fluid in the brain – called ventricles – were extremely dilated.
“It is likely that this accumulation of liquid led to the weakness of the man’s feet ”, the specialists explained.
What treatment has received
Doctors drained this excess of liquid from the man’s skull, which helped the patient regain some of his feet.
In a case report published in The Lancet, the doctors wrote that a new shunt was also introduced inside the man’s skull. In a few weeks, the patient’s neurological examinations, which were used to evaluate the weakness of the legs, returned to the reference level.
“The results of the neuropsychological and CT tests have not changed”they noted, so that the man’s IQ remained about the same.
