A pensioner who went to his GP complaining of balance problems turned out to have an air pocket inside his skull so large that doctors initially thought part of his brain was missing.
The 84-year-old, from Northern Ireland, sought help from his doctor after experiencing frequent falls and a weakness in his left arm and leg.
He was not suffering from any other symptoms and doctors did not find anything unusual in the patient’s medical history or blood work.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
However, after a CT scan of the man’s brain was ordered, “doctors were shocked to see what appeared to be a gaping hole”, says CBS.
What looked like a hole turned out to be an air-filled pocket called a pneumatocoele, which had been compressing the man’s brain tissue.
The man’s physician, Dr. Finlay Brown and co-author Dr. Djamil Vahidassr documented the case in a recent edition of the journal BMJ Case Reports.
In the report, the doctors point out that these kinds of air cavities are most common in people who have had facial injuries, sinus or ear infections or have undergone brain surgery.
“I don't think I will see another case like this again in my career,” Brown said. “Having air in the brain is not extremely rare but to have such a large organised pocket like this is not seen very often.”
