INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tanner's brain learned to adapt after a part largely responsible for visual processing was taken out.It was a solution no parent wants to
hear: To get rid of a brain tumor and stop their young son's seizures, surgeons would need to cut out one-sixth of his brain.But for Tanner
Collins, it was the best option.A slow-growing tumor was causing sometimes-daily seizures, and medications commonly used to treat them did
not seem to be working, his father said
But removing a portion of his brain was no doubt risky
That region -- the right occipital and posterior temporal lobes -- is important for facial recognition and, without it, Tanner's parents
wondered if he would recognize them.At 6, Tanner underwent surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Children's Hospital
Although his brain has had to work to adapt since then, he's had no major problems.Other than some visual impairment, Tanner, now 12, said
he's "perfectly fine.""As far as I'm concerned, I'm a perfectly normal 12-year-old boy," Tanner said.His case was published Tuesday in the
scientific journal Cell Reports, explaining how Tanner's brain learned to adapt after a part largely responsible for visual processing was
taken out.Marlene Behrmann, a cognitive neuroscientist and lead author of the paper, said Tanner was one of the first pediatric patients
studied over the past several years in her laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University to determine the extent to which a child's brain can
reorganize itself after certain sections are surgically removed
In Tanner's case, she said, surgeons took out his right occipital and posterior temporal lobes, which made up about one-third of the right
hemisphere of his brain.Once that section of Tanner's brain was surgically removed, there was a risk that he would have trouble recognizing
the faces of those around him, including his own parents, said Behrmann, a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon
But Tanner's brain ultimately found a solution: The part of the brain that assists with visual processing in the left hemisphere took on the
task."Today he is a bright, curious, introspective 12-year-old who does pretty much everything that other 12-year-olds do," Behrmann said,
noting that his case illustrates the "plasticity" of children's brains.But because Tanner is missing part of the right side of his brain
responsible for visual processing, he has a large blind spot on the corresponding left side of his universe, Behrmann said
He can compensate by moving his eyes to stitch images together but will never be able to drive.Tanner's parents, Carl and Nicole Collins,
both nurses from New Stanton, Pennsylvania, first noticed something was wrong when he was 4.He had a grand mal seizure and was diagnosed
with a brain tumor on the right side of his brain
It was later identified as a benign and slow-growing tumor called a dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor, Behrmann said.The Collinses
chose to watch and wait, opting for surgery when the tumor kept growing and the seizures recurred.Surgeons ran extensive tests to determine
exactly where the seizures were originating and the minimum amount of brain tissue that had to be removed to make them stop, Carl Collins
said."That was a fairly large part of his brain and for him to have only some subtle changes without it, that almost seemed unrealistic,"
the father said.When Tanner woke up from surgery, he was looking around the hospital room, and they could tell he was having trouble with
Tanner said he knew who his parents were but he remembers not being able to match their faces with their names, so, for a time, he said he
would poke them when he wanted their attention.Collins said it took months for Tanner to recover from surgery.Tanner has great vision but
also has blind spots, including the prominent one on the left side, and does visual and occupational therapies, Collins said.Tanner said one
way he notices his visual impairment is when he tries to look at 3-D art on a 2-D surface such as a piece of paper but "I just see lines and
stuff."Tanner, who reportedly does well in school, will be entering the seventh grade
He not allowed to play contact sports but enjoys swimming, volleyball and tennis
"I also like chess," he said.He said he already knows what he wants to be when he grows up."A neurosurgeon," he said
"I like the concept of helping people's lives, especially people who have situations similar to mine."Behrmann said Tanner's case is
significant because it shows not only the potential for the reorganization of the visual system in children's brains but also how that
reorganization takes place."There is much to be discovered, but I think this is the step in right direction," she said.(Except for the
headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
