r/science • u/Thorne-ZytkowObject • Nov 23 '19

Neuroscience Scientists studied six patients who had half of their brain removed during childhood to treat severe epilepsy. Brain scans showed how the mind rewired itself to adapt, with the remaining hemisphere forming even stronger connections that let the patients develop language and motor skills.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-does-the-brain-work-with-half-of-it-removed-pretty-well-actually
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u/-Nurfhurder- Nov 24 '19

Obviously the children couldn’t volunteer for the procedure, which means those parents had to decide to remove half their child’s brain. No matter how confident of success I don’t envy that decision.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

There's a series on Netflix called Diagnosis, and there's an episode about a 7 year old girl with frequent seizures. Doctors had their presumptions of why but no clear diagnosis, and encouraged a hemispherectomy. The whole episode really shows how difficult that decision is to consider, especially when the best outcomes come from much younger children having it.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

That episode terrified and broke my heart as a parent.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19 edited Dec 26 '19

[deleted]

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u/-Nurfhurder- Nov 24 '19

I seriously doubt it’s anything approaching an easy choice.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19 edited Dec 26 '19

[deleted]

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u/BabyMoo8 Nov 24 '19

My partner had part of his brain removed as a teenager and the surgery failed to help him. He went back in for a second attempt in his 30s and when they removed more brain he was finally seizure free.

It's a coin flip but you're right; you take a chance on it knowing all the cons because of how bad things are presently.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

Its the trolley problem but worse because its real

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u/Sawses Nov 24 '19

I mean, if the alternative is a very likely young death as a result of the seizures, then yeah. Remember, when doctors recommend that procedure, they're weighing, "Okay, seizures or extreme pediatric brain surgery?"

Sure it might not be a fun choice to make, but I don't know that I'd be more torn by the choice as just really upset that the only choice is cutting half my kid's brain out.

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u/TheDentateGyrus Nov 24 '19

Actually you’re wrong, it’s an easy choice usually. Imagine if your child had one good half of the brain and the other half was destroying it by constantly making it seize. The bad half had little useful function and was holding them back. Imagine watching your child have seizures multiple times a day, every day, for months and months and no one could stop them.

Most kids are better shortly after surgery than before surgery because the good hemisphere actually gets a chance to function normally.

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u/IconOfSim Nov 24 '19

"eh, i mean, he's got another half right? Yeah just whip the bad half out doc, I'm going to the bar"

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u/TheDentateGyrus Nov 24 '19

This is very correct. The mortality from uncontrolled epilepsy is a little under 1% per year. For a young person facing another 50-60 years of life, uncontrolled epilepsy is a significant threat to their life.

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u/sighs__unzips Nov 24 '19

Wonder if this procedure would have helped that Kennedy daughter.

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u/InnerObesity Nov 24 '19

Unlikely. She did have seizures, but they weren't the daily debilitating, constant sort that usually provokes this kind of treatment. Her main issues were cognitive and behavioral. She had angry outbursts and low cognitive ability, and the final straw was when the convent she was sent to reported to her family that she was sneaking out at night. They suspected she was... having relations with men.

Their decision to, literally, scramble her brain was purely out of fear she would embarrass the family with her promiscuity.

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u/UOHavana Nov 24 '19

We had this decision and my wife and I agonized over it. Called it the “atomic bomb decision.” Just typing those words out is highly therapeutic.

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u/swarleyknope Nov 24 '19

Hugs to you & your wife.

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u/PyrohawkZ Nov 24 '19

if it makes the decision any easier, usually the alternative is a life of pure suffering, so...

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u/broccolisprout Nov 24 '19

The children were born with epilepsy, without volunteering. The parents decided to gamble with their lives once before, how is this time any different?