Evening star., 1935-04-13

One Of the strangest living Drains
recorded in medical annals recently
has passed through the diagnostic
center Of the United States Veterans
Administration at Mount Alto Hos
pital here.
1t has been diagnosed as "congen-
ital multiple arteriovenous aneurysm
extra and intracerebral" - which
means that over a considerable area
Of the mans cerebral cortex the blood
streams to and from the heart are
inextricably mixed up and have been
from birth.
The man, who is 43 years old and
served few months in the Navy dur
ing the war, first became aware OF
his curious condition about seven
years ago, when he was employed as
a house painter. Twice daily. with
hardly any intermissions. a dull pain
would start over his left eye, pass over
his left ear and then continue down
his neck and left arm to the wrist.
All the time he would be conscious OF
a seeming pressure on the whole OF his
left side. Such an episode usually
ended in a brief period of confusion,
speechlessnes sand sleepiness. Then
the victim would feel normal again
until the next attack. He always re-
mained conscious and had only ex-
perienced one bad fall. One OF his
reactions-he was fellow of quite low
intelligence-was a feeling of pride
that he had been able to "get away
with it" without being discovered by
his employer or fellow workmen.
He passed through various veterans
clinics where the symptoms he de-
scribed, not fitting into any known
disease syndrome, caused considerable
debate. Some physicians were in
clined to diagnose them as purely
neurotic. X-ray studies made by
prominent neurologists here and else
where, however, showed condition
which seemed almost unbelievable,
considering that the man actually was
alive, and even walking around and
able to work. The blood supply Of a
large. section of the left side Of the
brain was passing through a strange
confusion of humorous veins and
arteries, so that the cerebral picture
was strikingly different from that of
the normal cortex. 1t was condition
Of multiple aneurysm"-an aneurism
being the humorous putting" of vein
or artery due to a thinning of the
wall. Where vein and an artery
with aneurisms are close together at
the point Of the swellingS the walls
tend to break down and the two blood
flows to merge. 1t is. in effect, short
circuit. The condition Is most fire.
quently met with about the heart and,
when it occurs congenitally, results in
the so-called "blue babies" The out
flowing blood is switched back to the
heart pump without having an oppor-
tunity to become oxidized.
Aneurisms seldom occur in the
brain and when they dc the result
often is fatal. But here was a man
not with q single short circuit" but
with a widespread system of "short
circuits" It extends, according to the
report of the case, both inside and
outside the brain. Still other consid-
erations led to the conclusion that
the man had been born with just this
sort of brain picture. From the time
the brain began to take shape in the
unborn child the abnormality had
existed. Consequently the man had
been able to make all possible adjust
ments to such q brain life as was
necessitated by 80 abnormal an organ.
Z 4 Z y
Man Is the only talking animal
but b happens to hsvs speech o..