Los Angeles doctors discovered and removed an embryonic twin from inside the brain of a 26-year-old Indiana university student who doctors earlier had thought was suffering from a brain tumor. The embryo inside Yamini Karanam's brain, despite having never developed, was found with bones, hair and teeth, Sky News reported. Karanam first sought medical help last year after she experienced comprehension problems. Doctors told her she was affected by a brain tumor. Instead, after surgery she found out that the tumor was in fact an embryonic twin. An embryonic twin occurs when a twin embryo develops in utero and the pair doesn't fully separate. One embryo then keeps developing at the expense of the other one. The non-dominant embryo eventually dies in utero and is partially or completely reabsorbed by the dominant twin. Karanam made fun of her embryonic twin by telling NBC Los Angeles that it was her "evil twin sister who's been torturing me for the past 26 years." After undergoing minimally invasive brain surgery, she is expected to make full recovery.
- Karanam, who was studying at Indiana University, was unaware of what was happening in her head until she underwent a procedure designed to reach deep into the brain to extract the tumour.
Karanam, who was studying at Indiana University, was unaware of what was happening in her head until she underwent a procedure designed to reach deep into the brain to extract the tumour.
After waking up from the surgery, Karanam was surprised to learn of the “teratoma”-her embryonic twin, a rarity in modern medicine, complete with bone, hair and teeth.
“This is my second one, and I’ve probably taken out 7,000 or 8,000 brain tumours,” said Dr. Hrayr Shahinian at the Skullbase Institute in Los Angeles, who performed the operation.It was only last September that Karanam realised something wasn’t registering in her mind as she was experiencing trouble comprehending things she read.
“Problems with reading comprehension, listening comprehension. If a couple people were talking in a room, I wouldn’t understand what was happening,” she was quoted as saying.
What became more frustrating for Karanam was that her doctors would contradict each other regarding the source of the problem, NBC said.
“The neurologist would say the neurosurgeon is not being practical in your case,” Karanam said.
“The neurologist would say the neurosurgeon is not being practical in your case,” Karanam said.
”And the neurosurgeon would say the neurologist is not being optimistic in your case. And I’m like, could someone be educated about this?”
Her own research led her to Shahinian who has developed a minimally-invasive way of reaching deep into the brain to extract tumours.
“Unlike traditional brain surgery where you open the skull and use metal retractors and you bring a microscope to see in the depths of the brain, what we’re doing is keyhole surgery,” he was quoted as saying.
The method uses fibre-optic technology with digital imagery. A half-inch incision into the brain allows for an endoscope to reach in and slowly and very delicately chisel away at the tumour.
Shahinian said before he invented his technique, the only option to remove this type of tumour would have been surgery that included removing half of the skull.
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