A woman's brain tumor turns out to be a live tapeworm in her head

A woman who thought she had a brain tumor was "relieved" to discover that the mass was actually a parasitic worm.

Rachel Palma knew that something was wrong when she started playing a different role. She had forgotten the words and had tried to call her parents dead, reported ABC 7. Aged 42, this young woman from Middletown, New York, also suffered "horrible nightmares", hallucinations and n & rsquo; Could not sleep, she told Today. When she tried to use her right hand, she let go of things suddenly.

"My episodes were getting more and more bizarre," Palma told Today of her symptoms that appeared in early 2018. "There were days when I did not know where I was."

After a few visits to the emergency room, the doctors performed an MRI in Palma, revealing the presence of a marble-sized lesion in the left hemisphere of his brain, the dominant side of most right-handers, which controls the language and speech.

Palma said today that she and her husband were both "shocked" with the diagnosis.

"I never really thought it was cancer," she said.

In the fall of 2018, surgeons operated on Palma, but were surprised to discover that what they thought was a soft tumor was actually a firm balloon. It looked like a quail egg, said today the neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Raj Shrivastava.

When they opened it, they found a tapeworm baby inside.

Dr. Jonathan Rasouli, Chief Resident of Neurosurgery at Icahn Medical School in Mount Sinai, New York, told ABC 7: "We were delighted, we applauded and applauded. When we arrived and we saw that it was a lone worm, we told ourselves' YES! & # 39; We were so happy! "

Rasouli said today: "It was one of the few situations where you see a parasite and you're like, wow, it's great!"

Palma's diagnosis has gone from a malignant brain tumor to a neurocysticercosis: this happens when the meat tapeworm infects the central nervous system. According to the World Health Organization, the disease spreads when an individual eats undercooked pork or other infected foods. drink water containing tapeworm eggs; or because of poor hygiene. Neurocysticercosis is the most common cause of epilepsy in developing countries.

Some people may not need treatment, while others may take medication or need surgery to remove the worm.

Palma recounted today that her first reaction when she was informed that she was infected with a parasite was "rude". She does not know how she got the disease.

"I was relieved at that time that it was not a cancer and that I would no longer need treatment," she said.