A 24 year old lady without a brain.

A 24 year old Chinese lady without a brain. how is this possible?

This is not the first case of a person found to be missing the cerebellum. In fact, there have been eight other similar cases reported, the researchers said. However, most cases involved infants or children who also showed severe mental impairment, epilepsy and large structural abnormalities in their brains, and most did not survive the condition.

Doctors in China were shocked to find out about a young woman who had lived a normal life for 24years was actually missing an important part of her brain, according to a new report of her case.



The 24-year-old's went to doctors because of a monthlong bout of nausea and vomiting. The patient told the doctors she had also experienced dizziness her entire life that She didn't start walking until she was four and had never been able to walk steadily.


When the doctors scanned the woman's brain, they found she had no cerebellum, a region of the brain thought to be crucial for walking and other movements. Instead, the scans showed a large hole filled with cerebrospinal fluid.


"CT and MRI scans revealed no remnants of any cerebellar tissues, verifying complete absence of the cerebellum," the doctors wrote in the report, published Aug. 22 in the journal Brain.

The cerebellum, which means "little brain" in Latin, is responsible for coordination and fine movements, such as the movements of the mouth and tongue needed for producing speech.

People with damage to this brain area typically experience debilitating motor difficulties. Yet contrary to the doctors' expectations, the Chinese woman's absence of the cerebellum resulted in only mild to moderate motor problems and slightly slurred pronunciation, according to the researchers. "This surprising phenomenon," demonstrates the plasticity of the brain early in life, they wrote.