Summary: Decompressive Hemi Craniotomy Case

Gabrielle Gifford Gabrielle “Gabby” Gifford was shot in the head by Jared Lee Loughner in January 8, 2011 at a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona. Gabby was shot by a 9mm handgun, its bullet entering through the rear left portion of the brain and exiting to the front left portion - leaving no smaller fragments of the bullet and only affecting the left-Hemisphere. Gabby was hospitalized as critical in the University of Arizona at Medical Center in Tucson by Dr. Dong Kim. Kim used a surgery process known as Decompressive Hemi Craniotomy (also known as DHC) to treat Gabby’s brain swelling. DHC is the process where a large portion of the cranium is drilled away to prevent swelling and protects other unharmed parts of the brain. Dr. Kim made a piece of synthetic bone to cover the drilled hole once the …show more content…
Another surgery made by Kim was called a shunt, which is a process where a small internal tube is used to remove excessive brain fluid from the brain to an abdominal cavity. Gabby’s therapy was focused on the damage caused in the frontal lobe (responsible for speaking and muscle movements) and the parietal lobe (responsible for body position) in the left-Hemisphere. Gabby had troubles in language, speaking, and moving her right side of the body (since the damage was in the left side of the brain). The therapy used music to familiarize with words and she was able to do that because (according to the University of Houston) music used many parts of the brain in both hemispheres that aren’t designated to language. Gabby was using music to retrieve pitch, melody, rhythm and other areas to get her language back. Scientists used music therapy to rebuild language on the right side of the brain. Moreover, therapist also used phrases and combined them with music. After time, the music would fade away and the words would stand on their own and language could be developed on the right