Most children have excellent long-term results following a hemispherectomy. Occasionally, however, some complications may occur: Early complications, which occur either while the operation is happening or immediately after it, include
blood loss, electrolyte changes, hypothermia and aseptic meningitis
.
Can you live a normal life after a hemispherectomy?
What to expect after the surgery. For many children a hemispherectomy can be a life-saving operation that can allow
the child to lead a far more normal life
. Often children are seizure free following the surgery. However, there are children who continue to have seizures even after the surgery.
What happens when you remove half your brain?
For example, when half of the brain is damaged, disconnected, or removed, it
causes weakness on the opposite side of the body
. In particular, the foot and hand on one side will be weaker. It also causes vision loss on one side of the visual field.
What are the side effects of having a hemispherectomy?
- Headaches.
- Trouble concentrating.
- Forgetfulness.
- Trouble finding the right words.
- Feeling tired.
- Numbness in your scalp.
- Nausea.
- Muscle weakness on one side of your body (the side controlled by the part of the brain the doctor operated on)
What is the survival rate of a hemispherectomy?
The outcome reported in this study is in line with previous results. Across studies, seizure reduction rates after hemispherectomy have ranged
between 50% and 92%
, with very low mortality rates (4).
Can you remove half your brain?
A hemispherectomy
is a rare surgery where half of the brain is either removed or disconnected from the other half. It’s performed on children and adults who have seizures that don’t respond to medicine.
What happens if you lose the right side of your brain?
With right hemisphere brain damage (known as RHBD or RHD), a person may have
trouble with things like attention, perception, and memory
, as well as loss of mobility and control on the left side of the body, since each hemisphere controls functions on the opposite side of the body.
What part of the brain can you not live without?
In the words of researcher and neurologist Jeremy Schmahmann, it’s the “Rodney Dangerfield of the brain” because “It don’t get no respect.” It’s
the cerebellum
. Even though the cerebellum has so many neurons and takes up so much space, it is possible to survive without it, and a few people have.
What happens if you lose the left side of your brain?
The left side of your brain controls your language and the right side of your body. A
left hemispheric stroke
may cause you to have problems speaking, understanding, reading, writing, and remembering. You may also have problems moving, seeing, or feeling the right side of your body.
Can a brain be kept alive?
An
isolated brain
is a brain kept alive in vitro, either by perfusion or by a blood substitute, often an oxygenated solution of various salts, or by submerging the brain in oxygenated artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
What are the long term effects of a hemispherectomy?
Key findings: At a mean follow-up of 6.05 years after hemispherectomy, 70 patients (56%) were
seizure-free
and 45 (36%) had seizure recurrence; 10 patients (8%) were free of their preoperative seizures but had new-onset nonepileptic spells and were excluded from further analysis.
What do split brain patients see?
Since information cannot be directly shared between the two hemispheres, split-brain patients display unusual behaviours, particularly
concerning speech and object recognition
.
How much of your brain can be removed?
Some people do actually live with
half a brain
, as a result of a hemispherectomy – surgical removal of half the brain done to control severe cases of seizures. Some other extreme cases include hydranencephaly, where the entire cerebral portion is missing and all that’s present is the brainstem.
What does the right side of the brain control?
Our brains have two sides, or hemispheres. In most people, language skills are in the left side of the brain. The right side controls
attention, memory, reasoning, and problem solving
. RHD may lead to problems with these important thinking skills.
Can Hemimegalencephaly cause death?
Although there have been a few reports of medical treatment, the main treatment is radical: remove or disconnect the affected side. However, it has
a high mortality
, and there have been reports of a vegetative state and seizures resuming, this time in the healthy hemisphere.
Can adults have a hemispherectomy?
Significance: Hemispherectomy in adults is
a safe and effective procedure
, with seizure freedom rates and functional outcome similar to those observed in children.
