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‘Evil twin’ removed from woman’s brain complete with bone, hair and teeth

Posted at 11:15 AM, Apr 23, 2015
and last updated 2015-04-23 13:12:52-04

LOS ANGELES -- A student at Indiana University was being “tortured” by an unknown entity for most of her life. She says she had no idea what was wrong with her — and neither did her doctors.

Last September, Yamini Karanam, 26, started noticing a disconnect. The Ph.D. student was having trouble understanding what she was reading and hearing, especially if there were multiple people talking, NBC4 reports.

Multiple doctors pointed to different sources of her strife but could never identify the exact cause.

Until, that is, her own research led to her to Los Angeles. There, she met a innovative neurosurgeon who identified her problem: a teratoma — a tumor with tissue or organs — deep within her brain.

This was no ordinary tumor. It contained bone, hair and teeth, likely the remnants of a twin Karanam absorbed while in the womb.

Karanam joked about the bizarre condition in an interview with NBC4, calling the tumor her “evil twin who’s been torturing me for the past 26 years.”

Tests revealed the tumor is benign and her doctor expects Karanam to make a full recovery.

Her neurologist, Dr. Hrayr Shaninian, said his patient’s condition is rare.

“This is my second one, and I’ve probably taken out 7,000 or 8,000 brain tumors,” he told NBC4.