Apparition Hemorrhage Spooks Neurologists
In honor of Halloween, we share with you today a spooky medical anomaly courtesy of the NPR Health Blog. "Ghost in the Brain: An 'Apparition Hemorrhage'" features a CT scan of a 68-year-old man in a deep coma. Though the doctors suspected brain hemorrhage, they were unprepared for what they saw--a "spectral image" appeared on the scan. You can view it here.
The massive hemorrhage in the man's brain was deemed irreversible by surgeons, and his family decided to withdraw respiratory care. The man died shortly after, according to the blog post.
Neurologist Joshua Klein of Brigham and Women's Hospital was involved in the case and spoke with NPR about the strange image:
To me (the image) looked like a ghost. That's exactly what I thought it was. At first I was thinking, "Is this the angel of death?" I was showing it to my colleagues. They were calling it an "apparition hemorrhage."
Read the full interview here.
What's the strangest thing you've seen on a CT scan? Have you ever come across an apparition hemorrhage?