Senor Aidan's wild ride: October 2007

We finally got a copy of the MRI interpretation they did after birth for him. End of the day certain things are wrong with the brain but they have no idea how it will turn out given they don't see too many kids with this mixture of brain problems. We are visiting tomorrow with our first therapist to learn exercises we can do for him to improve the connections in his brain and then early intervention starts next week--a program the state pays for with OT/PTs that come to your home. Just from my own reading there is not anything that can be done surgically but there are certain therapies that can be done to advance problems such as those concerning movement, body recognition, eyesight, speech, etc. We are going to begin those tomorrow and the following week. Also some doctors down at Duke have been experimenting with giving kids with brain injuries back their own cord blood in the hope of repairing damaged brain cells so we are going to head down to Duke January 8th to visit with the doctors for 3 days and give mr aidan back his own cord blood to see if can help his brain. They have had some success with kids who have been affected with hydrocephalus so we are hoping the cord blood can help mr aidan as well. Then at 3 months so beginning of January as well we have our follow up evaluation with his neurologist, apparently a world renowned woman who lives here so we are excited about that. Scary stuff to read and think about but right now we are really just enjoying having him home and watching him grow and eat a little more each day. Sleep, wake up every now and then do some of the good stuff babies do. Thanks again for all the prayers we are really appreciative of them. Hope you enjoy the photos!!!

For those so inclined I broke down following each of the lines of the MRI and Dr. Cavanaugh(MD obtained on the Internet) broke down what I think they mean. Tough to read but at the end of the day I think we just have to give him lots of love and enjoy our time with him and pray the brain finds a way to re-wire itself.

At birth MRI

Moderate ventriculomegaly consistent with hydrocephalus with periventricular hemosiderin depositionhemosiderin---when there was bleeding and the body transforms the blood to a less toxic form, deposition means sediment.
enlarged ventricles, with fluid that is caused by white matter around the ventricles being small in size because of bleeding in utero, this bleeding left the white matter stunted

Small region of right frontal porencephally
porencepahlly is either a cyst which prevents the brain from growing or other problems which led to distorted brain = lack or absence of speech

No Septum pellucidum is seen
Absence of the septum pellucidum or corpus callosum, caused by mutations in the HESX1 gene, is associated with septo-optic dysplasia.
This may result in hypothalamic dysfunction and hypopituitarism, as well as problems of vision, coordination, and intelligence, among other abnormalities

Periventricular small cystic changes are seen on the periatrial region sugesting leukomalacia Around the ventricles, small cysts exist in the white matter suggesting leukomalacia which means softening of the white matter.

Changes are most prominent in the left parietal
Left Parietal part of the brain that controls math, writing and left/right understanding, also speech

There is thinning of the corpus callosum
The original area of problem they saw in utero, the CC is the highway between the 2 hemishperes

There is prominence of the cisterna magna and subarachnoid spaces
Cisterna Magna is the part between the cerebellum and medulla
Subarachnoid space is the tubes through which CSF flows around the brain

No acute parenchymal hemorrhage
basically no current bleeding

No extra Axial fluid collection

No mass, mass-effect or midline shift
mass or mass effect here relate to the presence of a tumor or the outcome of one

There is no acute infarct in the diffusion-weighted imaging
Hard one but think it states there is no presence of a stroke

prominenent parietal scalp soft tissue swelling
Parietal lobe of the brain behind the frontal lobe and swelling of the scalp there

Description
In porencephaly, large dimples, craters, or clefts develop on the surface of the brain. These cavities or cysts are filled with fluid and lined with smooth tissue.
These cavities usually form at sites where damage has been caused by infection, loss of blood flow, or stroke during brain development, but may also be genetic in origin.
Equivalent terms are cerebral porosis, perencephaly, porencephalia, and (no longer in favor) polyporencephaly. The prefix "por" comes from the Latin porus, for hole or cavity.
They are usually caused by injuries to the fetal or newborn brain before full development of the convolutions or gyri (singular gyrus) on the surface of the cerebrum,
especially by infection,...