Maryland’s Health Matters - BWMC - Spring 2016 - 7

Brittany (middle) with her sisters
at the 2015 Northeast High
School graduation ceremony.
Brittany Krebs and UM BWMC neurosurgeon
Danny Liang, MD, examine before and after
MRI images, which revealed a noncancerous
tumor in the left hemisphere of her brain,
and then the area after tumor removal.

H

igh school senior Brittany Krebs of

that occurs in the brain. They usually arise from

Pasadena didn't know what to make

the covering of the brain, in a superficial location,

of her worsening headaches and

and slowly push into the brain, causing symptoms.

dizzy spells. Her headaches soon

Brittany's, however, was a meningioma that ema-

turned into seizures, but it wasn't

nated from the ventricle, which is a fluid cavity in

until November 2014 that she realized something

the middle of her brain. This only occurs in about

was medically wrong, when one of her sisters

0.5 to 1 percent of meningiomas."
This rare condition presented multiple challenges

found her during a seizure.
"I was getting ready for school ... and the next
thing I remember was my sister screaming, as she

to tackle during surgery.
"The first was that there is normal, functional

came in to find me shaking on the floor," says Brit-

brain all around the tumor," explains Dr. Liang.

tany, a triplet with two sisters. "My family called

"The second challenge was that this is her domi-

911 and the ambulance took me to UM Baltimore

nant side, meaning the brain around it controls

Washington Medical Center."

speech, language, naming, calculation, visual spatial

After swift emergency care and imaging tests,

processing and movement of her right side. Thus,

an MRI revealed that Brittany had a noncancerous

going through this part of the brain to get to the

tumor the size of a pingpong ball in the middle of

tumor could render damage to those skills."
After a thorough discussion with Brittany and

the left hemisphere of her brain.
Several days later, she was

her mother about treatment options, they decided

scheduled to have a craniotomy

to attempt complete surgical removal.
"Using a specialized approach, we were able to

to remove the tumor, performed by neurosurgeon Danny

monitor her brain function intraoperatively and

Liang, MD, director of neuro-

sneak through 'silent areas' of her brain to reach the

surgical oncology at UM BWMC

tumor. By cutting off the blood supply through one

and clinical assistant professor
of neurosurgery at the Univer-

Danny Liang, MD

corridor, and then killing the rest of the tumor and
removing it from another [corridor], we were able

sity of Maryland School of Medicine.

to achieve a complete resection," says Dr. Liang.

A CHALLENGING SITUATION

A DETERMINED RECOVERY

"Brittany had a benign tumor in a very bad loca-

Brittany thought she would have a long road to

tion," says Dr. Liang. "Her tumor appeared to be

recovery, with perhaps weeks of inpatient ther-

a meningioma, which is the most common tumor

apy to feel normal again. She spent eight days

mybwmc.org | Spring 2016

 7
http://www.mybwmc.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maryland’s Health Matters - BWMC - Spring 2016
