Head complete explosion!!!!!!

[stalvl]

Hi guys!
I am a chemist and I found an interesting story in "exeter chess club" about Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis. Have you ever heard about similar cases??? Is this story true???? Than it is scary ((. What is the exact reason for the explosion????
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"Doctors are blaming a rare electrical imbalance in the brain for the bizarre death of a chess player whose head literally exploded in the middle of a championship game!

No one else was hurt in the fatal explosion but four players and three officials at the Moscow Candidate Masters' Chess Championships were sprayed with blood and brain matter when Nikolai Titov's head suddenly blew apart. Experts say he suffered from a condition called Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis or HCE.

He was deep in concentration with his eyes focused on the board," says Titov's opponent, Vladimir Dobrynin. "All of a sudden his hands flew to his temples and he screamed in pain. Everyone looked up from their games, startled by the noise. Then, as if someone had put a bomb in his cranium, his head popped like a firecracker."

Incredibly, Titiov's is not the first case in which a person's head has spontaneously exploded. Five people are known to have died of HCE in spontaneously exploded. Five people are known to have died of HCE in the last 25 years. The most recent death occurred just three years ago in 1991, when European psychic Barbara Nicole's skull burst. Miss Nicole's story was reported by newspapers worldwide, including WWN. "HCE is an extremely rare physical imbalance," said Dr. Anatoly Martinenko, famed neurologist and expert on the human brain who did the autopsy on the brilliant chess expert. "It is a condition in which the circuits of the brain become overloaded by the body's own electricity. The explosions happen during periods of intense mental activity when lots of current is surging through the brain. Victims are highly intelligent people with great powers of concentration. Both Miss Nicole and Mr. Titov were intense people who tended to keep those cerebral circuits overloaded. In a way it could be said they were literally too smart for their own good."

Although Dr. Martinenko says there are probably many undiagnosed cases, he hastens to add that very few people will die from HCE. "Most people who have it will never know. At this point, medical science still doesn't know much about HCE. And since fatalities are so rare it will probably be years before research money becomes available."

In the meantime, the doctor urges people to take it easy and not think too hard for long periods of time. "Take frequent relaxation breaks when you're doing things that take lots of mental focus," he recommends.

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[Darth Vader]

HCE is a very real and very scary medical condition. I have managed a few patients who were on my neurology service for medical prophylaxis against HCE (includes propanolol, diazepam, fentanyl, and of course de-stimulation and if the patient is too far along, then we go ahead and put them under general anesthesia and intubate them). I also saw one actual case of stage IV HCE while doing my surgery rotation. Freakiest thing that I've ever seen, patient rolls into the ER with his head partially coming apart, the neurosurgeons got him and rolled him straight to the OR and it was 8 solid hours of trying to stuff that brain matter back in and suturing and cauderizing up the skull. Unfortunately, that patient didn't make it. I think that mortality reaches 70-80% with stage IV HCE. Prevention is the key. If you or someone you know might be suffering from HCE, I would encourage you to go to the ER ASAP.

-Dr. Vader

 

[stalvl]

Thanks a lot! I will try to be a dumb one to prevent HCE!

 

[stalvl]

Do you know the actual reason for HCE???? Why does your head blow up?

 

[Darth Vader]

Originally posted by stalvl
Do you know the actual reason for HCE???? Why does your head blow up?

It's idiopathic (meaning that they don't know why right now), but there are several theories. One is that when your neurons become hyperstimulated, they can sometimes synchronize causing an overwhelming release of neurotransmitters and potassium from neurons. Having an excess of potassium in the extracellular fluid around neurons would cause an electromagnetic gradient that under the right conditions, could be converted from potential energy into kinetic energy. Another theory is that your neurons may simply swell from the osmotic pressure of having too many neurotransmitters being synthesized and just burst secondary to all that extra swelling. Like all diseases, there is also appears to be a genetic component to this disease as well though. Do you have a family history of this disease? Patients with a first or second degree relative who suffered from this illness are usually told to not go for too long periods of studying and to take mandatory study breaks every 5 minutes or so. If you don't have a family history, I wouldn't worry about the disease too much because just like the article states, it's generally pretty rare and there isn't too much you can do except go to the ER when you think that you have symptoms. Symptoms can include things like racing thoughts, having a "surge" of knowledge appear in your brain, severe unrelenting headache, visual changes, and nausea and vomiting. Most of these symptoms are not very sensitive or specific though, so I would encourage you to seek medical help whenever you suspect that an episode might be coming on.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

DV you are evil! Don't believe the lies (hopefully you don't, but you never know).

HCE is a completely benign condition. My father and grandfather had it and they're fine. My head will not expbloalasdgkladgshasdlkdfvaslasfslkbzj vmadf,.bamfbad
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[Darth Vader]

Don't worry folks, there is no need to contact emergency medical services for Whisker Barrel Cortex. As a doctor, I can tell that he is malingering. While someone who was suffering from a prodrome of HCE might begin to nonsensically post as WBC did, they never would have had the coordination to hit the "submit reply" button due to their head throbbing so much. Most patients I have seen with the prodrome of HCE are usually pressing their hands over their scalp in some futile effort to keep the contents of their head contained as well. The "head-press" is considered a classic or pathoneumonic sign for HCE. I hope that you weren't attempting to make some sick joke about HCE WBC. Especially if you truly are a "doctor", even if your specialty is radiology, that's no excuse for making insensitive jokes about what really is a debilitating and deadly disease for those truly afflicted with it.

 

[neurologist]

Yikes!
And we're not even anywhere NEAR April 1 . . . .

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

Yes, I'm OK. I did some self-trepination, the only proven treatment for HCE. The leaking CSF is kind of annoying but if it keeps me alive, its great.

As a radiologist, I'm just trying to prevent all of the unnecessary 3am head CTs from any not so intelligent people reading this forum who may have believed that their tension headache is actually a prodrome to HCE!

 

[Daniel vD]

Some articles about sudden death in epileptics have been publicized in newspapers here recently.

Just wondering, might there also be a link between sudden death in epileptics due to extreme outbursts of electric activity in the brain and HCE?

So, could epileptics be more susceptible to (dying of) HCE than the general population is?

 

[Darth Vader]

Originally posted by Daniel vD
Some articles about sudden death in epileptics have been publicized in newspapers here recently.

Just wondering, might there also be a link between sudden death in epileptics due to extreme outbursts of electric activity in the brain and HCE?

So, could epileptics be more susceptible to (dying of) HCE than the general population is?

I did a pub-med search for any association between epilepsy and HCE and was able to find a few case reports suggesting a weak association between the two illnesses (as both do have to do with electrical activity of the brain). I was also able to find a fairly large prospective study done a few years ago (published in the JNEDB, the Journal of Neurological and Electrical Disorders of the Brain) that did not find any significant association between the two illnesses and these particular authors of that study suggested that some neurologists may mis-interpret there to be an association simply because patients who have the early stages of HCE can be mis-diagnosed as having a seizure disorder. Then, when these patients go on to develop full blown HCE, they retain the mis-diagnosis of having a seizure disorder even though their true underlying disorder was HCE. I have a few attending neurologists who would disagree with those author's conclusions though, simply because the similarities in pathogenesis and the positive correlation between people with a family history of HCE and seizure disorders all seem to suggest that those two disorders may be inter-related somehow.

 

[Daniel vD]

I think it would be interesting to find out whether people with above-average intelligence also tend to suffer from epilepsy more often than others.

Well, that's way over my head.

Anyway, if it actually exists, where can we find something serious on it? It does sound quite bizarre to me.
Now, there are two options.
1. It doesn't exist.
2. It exists, but it is so bizarre and rare that people think it must be a joke.

And, on option 2, I must say that I have read of things that are quite incredible, and yet they exist.
This one is just the weirdest I've ever heard about, so... If it exists, can you give us a link to an independent site on it?

 

[Daniel vD]

Originally posted by Darth Vader
HCE is a very real and very scary medical condition. I have managed a few patients who were on my neurology service for medical prophylaxis against HCE (includes propanolol, diazepam, fentanyl, and of course de-stimulation and if the patient is too far along, then we go ahead and put them under general anesthesia and intubate them). I also saw one actual case of stage IV HCE while doing my surgery rotation. Freakiest thing that I've ever seen, patient rolls into the ER with his head partially coming apart, the neurosurgeons got him and rolled him straight to the OR and it was 8 solid hours of trying to stuff that brain matter back in and suturing and cauderizing up the skull. Unfortunately, that patient didn't make it. I think that mortality reaches 70-80% with stage IV HCE. Prevention is the key. If you or someone you know might be suffering from HCE, I would encourage you to go to the ER ASAP.

-Dr. Vader

But if you've actually seen several of these patients, then it should be a quite common disorder. This is where you made me think: 'he is making a joke'. If it's as rare as you said, it would be impossible for you, a single person, to have seen multiple patients suffering of this condition.

Next time, tell us you've once seen a patient with this. If you had said that, I would have believed you.

I knew something wasn't right.

 

[ice_23]

I guess I could just be incredibly gullible, but I've seen Vader's other posts, and he seems too detailed and medical in this thread for me to think he is joking...

-Ice

 

[Daniel vD]

Originally posted by ice_23
I guess I could just be incredibly gullible, but I've seen Vader's other posts, and he seems too detailed and medical in this thread for me to think he is joking...

-Ice

My thoughts exactly.

However, if I'd get to work on it for 15 minutes or so, I could write a similar story about any issue. Well, it wouldn't be perfect if I'd write it in English, which is not my native language.

Indeed, Darth Vader writes very well about this.

But. There's one thing to consider. Brain edema will force brain tissue to pass the foramen, leading to death. So before a persons skull would come apart (which he describes as this patient with stage IV HCE), the person would be dead already. There's no way anyone could survive, not even for a few days.
And I think that in this, this so-called HCE thing is comparable both to idiopathic brain edema (?) and generalized epilepsy, if it exists.

 

[Old brain]

Originally posted by Whisker Barrel Cortex
Yes, I'm OK. I did some self-trepination, the only proven treatment for HCE. The leaking CSF is kind of annoying but if it keeps me alive, its great.

As a radiologist, I'm just trying to prevent all of the unnecessary 3am head CTs from any not so intelligent people reading this forum who may have believed that their tension headache is actually a prodrome to HCE!

So you recommend self-trepination as a preventative measure?
You must have a hole in your head.
I'm here to help people like you, to let you know that you don't have to drill a hole in your head to release cerebrospinal fluid pressure, because there is already one there, it opens when you yawn releasing the cerebrospinal fluid pressure, I call it the Nolman valve.

You can see how it works here...

http://www.members.shaw.ca/hilaryking/Oldbrain1.htm

On the topic of exploding heads potassium + water does equal fire

 

[DonDrimeXm8]

http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/chess.htm

regarding the chess story

 

[neurodoc]

Unless someone can come up with a plausible reason why someone's cranium should spontaneously explode from "excessive" neuronal activity I would be inclined to posit two more likely "explanations" for the alleged cranial explosions: 1) totally fabricated bunk; or, 2) there was a sniper with a silenced weapon who shot a high velocity bullet into the head of the chess player (or maybe the Russians implanted a remotely controlled explosive device in his cranium). The human cranium is pretty sturdy, and it would take a considerable amount of internally generated pressure to cause it to burst. I can't think of any internally generated pressures from any imaginable natural processes that would be able to burst a skull. I have seen many patients with increased intracranial pressure for several causes (tumors, hemorrhage, hydrocephalus, etc., but I have never seen a skull "burst" from these causes. I have, however, seen many burst crania, but all of these have been the result of trauma, mainly gunshot wounds and severe blunt trauma. I have never seen a case of a skull that exploded as a result of an implanted bomb, but is suppose that would be possible.

 

[tr]

I think everyone here must be working too hard.

Even regardless of the ridiculous acronym and bizarre pharmaceutical regimen (what kind of medical condition could require propranolol (a beta-adrenergic blocker), diazepam (a benzo), and fentanyl (a narcotic analgesic) all at the same time?), anyone with a computer could have Googled "HCE" and found that it seems to have originated in the Weekly World News in 1994.

http://www.darwinawards.com/legends/legends1999-10.html

PS - a 'surge' of knowledge? Heheheh - maybe we should all get little surge protectors to wear behind our ears. Or better yet, we could get them surgically implanted. Who knows - it might even give us better reception for the little voices.