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Article: Labor Day: Head case.
- Article from:
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA)
- Article date:
- September 5, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Sep. 5--Surrounded by doctors and nurses in light blue scrubs, surgical masks, and hats that look like shower caps, Dr. Brad Bellotte cauterizes the bald and shaved scalp of the woman who lies prostrate before him as smoke emanates from her head.
Through the flap of skin he has opened, he cuts though tissue and blood to reach the skull. Under his supervision, a medical student uses a hand-held drill to reach the patient's brain as sounds like those from a carpenter's bench fill the room.
Bellotte peers into the pulsing penny-sized red hole, and begins the process of inserting a small shunt that will drain water from the patient's brain to her abdominal ...