After suffering from some fairly mild symptoms , one unlucky cat from Northern Ireland took a tripper to the infirmary , only to find out he had an orchard apple tree - sized melodic phrase house of cards in his skull .
As explained in a typeface account call " The military personnel that lose ( part of ) his intellect " in the journalBMJ Case Reports , the 84 - yr - old man turned up to the emergency room at Causeway Hospital in Northern Ireland after suffering from a weakness on the left side of his consistence and repeatedly falling over . Other than this , he appear hunky-dory , with no signal of confusion , no optical upset , and relatively normal blood examination results .
Perhaps nothing too unusual for a man of his eld , but further investigations revealed these symptoms were a red flag signal much big problem . nous - project CT CAT scan unveil a strange 9 - centimetre ( 3.5 - inch ) void in his skull just behind his forehead in the right frontal lobe .
" We were able to see the brain scan figure of speech before receive the formal report from our radiology specializer and forthwith know something was not correct ! ” Dr Finlay Brown , study co - author and Dr. at Causeway Hospital , toldNewsweek . “ I wondered if the patient role had antecedently undergo brain surgery or had a congenital abnormality we did n’t have a go at it about . ”
Although the scan appeared to show part of his mastermind was miss , it later transpired the MD were looking at a monolithic melodic phrase - filled cavity , what ’s love as a pneumatocoele . His brainpower was still there , it had just been squelch out of the fashion by the pocket of atmosphere .
“ To find a pocket of this size in an unionised fashion was exceedingly rare , with very few documented cases come up while I was researching for writing up the fount story , ” Brown supply .
Dr Finlay Brown / BMJ Case Reports
These melody pockets can occur for a numeral of reasons , namely as a result of an injury to the head , an contagion , or the aftereffects of a operative subroutine . Occasionally they can develop if there ’s a problem with the interconnected canal of the ears , olfactory organ , and pharynx .
“ Sometimes it can be precipitated by a more acute case , for example , following a bout of sneeze or cough , ” the study ’s authors write .
The man had a long stay at the hospital but totally refused any surgery . He was later discharged and put on a secondary stroke prevention political program , after which his left - sided weakness appeared to have been solve .
