Removing Half The Brain Works Better Than You'd Think

Speaking of allowing random Indian merchants license to hack at my brain, Scientific American has an excellent article up on the surgical technique of hemispherectomy — the practice of removing an entire hemisphere of the brain, usually to control constant seizures.

Neurosurgeons have performed the operation on children as young as three months old. Astonishingly, memory and personality develop normally. A recent study found that 86 percent of the 111 children who underwent hemispherectomy at Hopkins between 1975 and 2001 are either seizure-free or have nondisabling seizures that do not require medication. The patients who still suffer seizures usually have congenital defects or developmental abnormalities, where brain damage is often not confined to just one hemisphere, Freeman explains.

Another study found that children that underwent hemispherectomies often improved academically once their seizures stopped. "One was champion bowler of her class, one was chess champion of his state, and others are in college doing very nicely," Freeman says.

And some even go on to be professional bloggers. By the way, I don't want anyone to miss this neurosurgeon's quip: "You can't take more than half [of the brain out]. If you take the whole thing, you've got a problem."

When Half a Brain Is Better than a Whole One [Scientific American] (via Post-Human Blues)