Tumor surgery cures ‘Laughing Girl’

Following a life-saving surgery at Schneider Children’s Hospital to remove a rare brain tumor on March 30, three-year-old Anastasia Lagalla, of Suffolk County, is free of the seizures and the uncontrollable laughter that the tumor had caused.
About a year ago, in May of 2006, Anastasia Lagalla’s parents began to notice their daughter had some sort of problem. Brief and infrequent seizures progressed to major ones that were occurring 12 times-a-day.
The little girl was eventually diagnosed as having hypothalamic hamartoma, which is a rare brain tumor contracted by only 30 people world wide each year. The tumor causes gelastic seizures, which resulted in Anastasia’s uncontrollable laughter. She would also have episodes where she would kick and scream while lying on the floor during what her parents said looked like “uncontrollable temper tantrums.”
“It’s really a very rare sort of tumor,” said Dr. Steven Schneider, the co-chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Schneider Children’s Hospital who operated on Anastasia. “It’s normal tissue in an abnormal location.”
In order to remove the tumor, Schneider “split the brain in half from the very top to bottom without creating significant deficits.” He was assisted by Dr. Ashesh Mehta, who is the director of epilepsy surgery at LIJ Medical Center.
Since the surgery, Schneider said that Anastasia has remained seizure-free and said that it was remarkable that she has been episode free.
“She’s done beautifully,” he said, adding that he was elated to have been able to help her. “Her behavior has improved significantly. She’s back on track.”