Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1029344
One teenage boy's brain malformation had a fa irly ty pica l presentation. A f ter fa lling a nd hitting his head while play- ing soccer, the boy developed a headache t hat wa s a ccompa n ied by vom it i n g. T he a nt i-nausea d r ug Zof ra n fa i led to help. His mot her noticed t hat h is face drooped on one side, a sy mptom caused by an interna l brain hemorrhage. Treatment for the head injur y led to a diag nosis of cavernous ma lformation in his bra instem . A f ter t he major it y of t he bleed wa s removed , t he ch i ld improved sig nif ica ntly. In a nother ca se, a teena ge g irl pre- sented w it h a n i nabi l it y to swa l low for severa l months a nd as a result lost a sig n if ica nt a mount of weig ht . The gastroenterologist who initia lly exa m- i ned her t houg ht , not u n rea sonably, t hat t here m i g ht be a ps ycholog ica l issue. He sent her home. A month later, she still couldn't eat, a nd a CT sca n of her neck showed a la rge tumor in her lower brainstem. Dr. Grant removed the hema ng ioblastoma . Dr. Gra nt repor ts that his patient ca n now swa llow nor- ma lly a nd is recovering. Another somewhat unusua l presenta- tion was a teenage boy who was thought to have suffered from severe neck pa in a s a r e s u lt of t w ic e -a- d ay s u m mer footba l l practice. Towa rd t he end of summer, he a lso bega n suffering from headaches. A f ter diag nosing the child with a pinea l reg ion tumor, Dr. Gra nt removed t he t u mor before t he ch i ld underwent chemotherapy and radiation. GENETICS OF TUMORS Of ten, patients with bra in abnorma li- ties or benig n tumors, need no fur ther treatment once Dr. Grant has performed the procedure to correct the problem. Some patients, however, will need continu- ing oncological treatment, and there is One of Dr. Grant's patients three days after treatment for a brain stem cavernous malformation. Dr. Grant interviews a patient four years after surgery for the removal of an ependymoma, a rare primary brain tumor. M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S L O N G I S L A N D ■ 2 018 0 9