For several months Yamini Karanam, an Indiana University Ph.D. student, had been plagued by neurological distress: forgetfulness, difficulty understanding simple writing, and headaches so severe that she couldn’t read.
Karanam, 26, told the Washington Post she first started noticing symptoms in September of last year; she started blogging about her doctor’s visits and growing pain. Doctors told her she had a pineal tumor that was inoperable because of its location in her brain.
But she eventually found a doctor in Los Angeles, Dr. Hrayr Shahinian of the Skullbase Institute, who said he could remove the tumor in a specialized “keyhole” brain surgery.
Armed with more than $30,000 her friends collected in a fundraiser for her treatment, Karanam underwent the surgery this month in Los Angeles. Her tumor, it turns out, was something...else. From the Post:
Shahinian made a tiny incision in the back of Karanam’s head, then strung an endoscope into her skull and through a natural channel in her brain to the site of the tumor. That’s when the doctor made a startling discovery.
Karanam’s tumor wasn’t just a tumor. It was a teratoma: a clump of bone, hair and teeth. A Frankenstein’s monster within Karanam’s own mind.
Teratomas have baffled scientists for almost a century. Some have speculated that they are basically twins that never quite develop and are instead absorbed into the surviving baby’s body. In fact, newborns occasionally have large teratomas attached to them like a conjoined twin.
Shahinian told NBC Los Angeles that the teratoma was not cancerous, and that Karanam is expected to make a full recovery from what she calls her “evil twin sister who’s been torturing me for the past 26 years.”
Screengrab via NBC Los Angeles. Contact the author at aleksander@gawker.com .
