07/21/2016.
A man was ordered for an MRI scan for leg pain and eventually found his brain to be 90% cerebrospinal fluid. In other words, there is very little room for his brain.
A small brain does not prevent you from living well
This story was relayed in 2007 in the journal The Lancet. Psychologist Axel Cleeremans, from the University of Brussels, therefore put this incredible story back on the agenda in June 2016, during the last conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, held in Argentina.
According to the site Quartz, this disease is called hydrocephalus and is characterized by the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the cranial cavity. The man is said to have contracted it in his childhood and the doctors of the time would have tried to evacuate the fluid in other parts of the body, by means of a small tube. However, the fluid reappeared later to accumulate in the cranium.
IQ below normal
According to the Belgian psychologist, “ no theory explains how a person, 90% of whose neurons are missing, can behave completely normally “. The man has an IQ of 75, which is below average. This does not prevent him from having a normal life and a job in the administration.
If the brain ” is not damaged suddenly “, It will then be” capable of adapting », According to Axel Cleeremans. Indeed, the areas of the patient’s brain which control sensitivity, hearing or speech are incredibly small compared to the average, but this does not force the man to ensure his daily life as a father, husband and wife. employee.
Read also: All about the brain and spinal scan
