OK, this is something else! From Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110220/us_ac/7897686_boy_missing_cerebellum_stymies_medical_experts_twice_over;_ylt=AszhIreiVnJAlhT1DRtinhas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTU1MWQ5MHBpBGFzc2V0A2FjLzIwMTEwMjIwLzc4OTc2ODZfYm95X21pc3NpbmdfY2VyZWJlbGx1bV9zdHltaWVzX21lZGljYWxfZXhwZXJ0c190d2ljZV9vdmVyBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDOARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA2JveW1pc3NpbmdjZQ----
Three-year-old Chase Britton is a medical enigma. Born without a cerebellum, Chase is able to perform activities that have long been thought to be controlled by the cerebellum. Chase can walk, ride a bike, manipulate a pencil ... all of this upends conventional medical thinking. He "needs" a cerebellum to do these things, and he doesn't have one.
Chase's parents, Heather and David Britton, learned their son's cerebellum was missing when he underwent an MRI at age 1. "'He has the MRI of a vegetable,' one of the doctors said to us," Heather Britton said in an AOL news interview.
What is even more of a mystery is what happened to Chase's cerebellum. While he may have been born without it, it was visible in Heather Britton's sonogram pictures in considerable detail. So neurologists ponder not only how Chase functions without a cerebellum but also what happened to the cerebellum that was clearly present in utero. His technical diagnosis of cerebellar hypoplasia, normally indicating a small rather than an absent cerebellum, doesn't shed much light on the mystery.
In Chase's case the cerebellum structure is absent and the space where it should be is filled with fluid.
Causes of Cerebellar Hypoplasia
According to Medline Plus, most brain malformations happen before a baby's birth. They can result from genetic conditions or exposures that thwart brain development such as excess radiation or infections.
With cerebrellar hypoplasia, the National Institutes of Health says, both congenital malformation syndromes and neurodegenerative disorders beginning in early childhood can play a role. That could shed some light on how Chase's cerebellum could be there before birth and gone by age one. But it doesn't begin to explain how Chase can do the things he does which one normally needs a cerebellum to do.
Three-year-old Chase Britton is a medical enigma. Born without a cerebellum, Chase is able to perform activities that have long been thought to be controlled by the cerebellum. Chase can walk, ride a bike, manipulate a pencil ... all of this upends conventional medical thinking. He "needs" a cerebellum to do these things, and he doesn't have one.
Chase's parents, Heather and David Britton, learned their son's cerebellum was missing when he underwent an MRI at age 1. "'He has the MRI of a vegetable,' one of the doctors said to us," Heather Britton said in an AOL news interview.
What is even more of a mystery is what happened to Chase's cerebellum. While he may have been born without it, it was visible in Heather Britton's sonogram pictures in considerable detail. So neurologists ponder not only how Chase functions without a cerebellum but also what happened to the cerebellum that was clearly present in utero. His technical diagnosis of cerebellar hypoplasia, normally indicating a small rather than an absent cerebellum, doesn't shed much light on the mystery.
In Chase's case the cerebellum structure is absent and the space where it should be is filled with fluid.
Causes of Cerebellar Hypoplasia
According to Medline Plus, most brain malformations happen before a baby's birth. They can result from genetic conditions or exposures that thwart brain development such as excess radiation or infections.
With cerebrellar hypoplasia, the National Institutes of Health says, both congenital malformation syndromes and neurodegenerative disorders beginning in early childhood can play a role. That could shed some light on how Chase's cerebellum could be there before birth and gone by age one. But it doesn't begin to explain how Chase can do the things he does which one normally needs a cerebellum to do.