Can a human live without a brain?

Obviously the question sounds absurd, but according to a friend, it is possible for a Human being to live without a brain. I remain incredulous, He is basing his assertion on a study done by a doctor in the 70s that put a student with an abnormally large head through a CAT-scan and found that they had "no brain", which I believe to be strictly impossible. Can anybody provide evidence to the contrary, or perhaps an explanation of the statement. As far as I understand, CAT-scans are incapable of determining whether there is no brain matter in the cranium, because the X-Rays are not powerful enough to image the cranium to that depth, and the person could simply have had a tiny brain.