Removing Half the Brain Appears to Boost Brain Connectivity

Six adults had half of their brain removed when they were children. Years later, and brain scans show that not only were the connections comparable to healthy controls with both brain hemispheres intact—they were, in almost all cases, "markedly" stronger.
Researchers writing in Cell Reports describe how the brain can reshuffle and adapt in the face of major surgery to enable the body, at least as far as brain connectivity is concerned, to function and perform as if it was a whole organ.

Removing Half the Brain Appears to Boost Brain Connectivity Brain-scan

Removing Half the Brain Appears to Boost Brain Connectivity Brain-scan

Somehow the existing networks of the brain compensated for the extreme condition people find themselves in after surgery," Wael Assad, an associate professor of neuroscience who was not involved in the research, told Newsweek.
"We know that children's brains are typically a little bit more plastic or recognizable, so to see this is one way in which that reorganization would be happening is interesting."
The six volunteers who underwent a hemispherectomy did so to prevent debilitating seizures triggered by epilepsy. But despite essentially having only half a brain, they are high-functioning with intact language skills. According to Web MD, "Most people feel normal and can go back to work, school, and their usual lives about 6 to 8 weeks after surgery."
"You can almost forget their condition when you meet them for the first time," first author Dorit Kliemann, a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology, said in a statement.
"When I sit in front of the computer and see these MRI images showing only half a brain, I still marvel that the images are coming from the same human being who I just saw talking and walking and who has chosen to devote his or her time to research."

More: https://www.newsweek.com/removing-half-brain-appears-boost-brain-connectivity-1472716

Removing Half the Brain Appears to Boost Brain Connectivity

Removing Half the Brain Appears to Boost Brain Connectivity

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