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They say laughter is the best medication . But what if laughter is the disease ?
For a 6 - year - previous female child in Bolivia who suffer from uncontrollable and out or keeping bouts of giggles , laughter was a symptom of a serious brain trouble . But Doctor of the Church initially diagnosed the child with " misbehavior . "
Laughing seizures are often caused by a form of epilepsy stemming from a brain tumor.
" She was considered spoiled , crazy — even devil - possessed , " Dr. José Liders Burgos Zuleta , ofAdvanced Medical Image Centre , in Bolivia , said in a statement . [ 14 Oddest Medical Cases ]
But Burgos Zuleta discovered that the true reason of the girl’slaughing seizures , medically bid gelastic seizures , was a brain tumour .
After the girl undergo a brain scan , the doctors discovered a hamartoma , a minor , benign tumour that was pressing against her brain ’s temporal lobe . The doctor surgically removed the neoplasm , and the girl is now healthy , the Doctor of the Church said .
A brain tumor from a young girl with uncontrollable laughter is shown in this MRI scan.
The little girl contain have the uncontrollable approach of laugh and now only laughs normally , the doctor say .
Gelastic seizures are a form ofepilepsythat is comparatively rare , say Dr. Solomon Moshé , chief of pediatric clinical neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and The Children ’s Hospital at Montefiore . The word comes from the Greek Holy Writ for laugh , " gelos . "
" It ’s not necessarily ' hahaha ' laughing , " Moshé told Live Science . " There ’s no felicity in this . Some of the kid may be very scared , " he tally .
The ictus are most often due to tumors in the hypothalamus , specially in tike , although they can also come from tumors in other role of nous , Moshé say . Although laugh is the main symptom , patients may also have outbursts of crying .
These neoplasm can cause growth abnormalities if they affect the pituitary secretor , he said .
The operation to remove such head tumors used to be hard and dangerous , but a newsurgical techniquedeveloped within the last 10 years allows doctors to remove them effectively without great danger , Moshé said .
The doctor who treated the girl said their report of her case could raise cognisance of the unknown condition , so doctors in Latin America can diagnose the dead on target cause of some nestling ’s " behavioral " problems , and refer them to a neurologist .
The face paper was published today ( June 16 ) in the diary ecancermedicalscience .
