Like any parents of newborn twins, Joely and Jared Finkelstein’s parents did not suspect anything was wrong when they were born.
But a few months later, doctors determined Joely had tiny holes in her brain, or vein of Galen malformation, wcbstv.com reported.
Vein of Galen malformation, or arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is when the large, deep vein at the base of the brain lacks capillaries, so Joely’s blood flows much too quickly from the arteries to the vein, which becomes overwhelmed by the intense bloodflow.
The Finkelsteins, who live in Chicago, found Dr. Alejandro Berenstein, director of the Hyman-Newman Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, who is an expert in AVMs. Berenstein essentially "plugged" the holes in Joely’s brain by using an adhesive similar to Krazy Glue. In order for the glue to reach Joely’s brain, Berenstein inserted a microcatheter into her groin and then fired bursts of the glue into the artery.
After the second procedure, Joely’s mother, Darby, said she noticed a difference in her daughter’s health.
"Her eyes looked brighter, her coloring looked better," Darby Finkelstein said. "She just looked like a different baby. It was really quite amazing."
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