Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A lobotomy (from Greek λοβός (lobos) 'lobe' and τομή (tomē) 'cut, slice') or leucotomy is a discredited form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy, depression) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. [1]
In 2007, Dully published My Lobotomy, a memoir co-authored by Charles Fleming. The memoir relates Howard Dully's experiences as a child, the effect of the procedure on his life, his efforts as an adult to discover why the medically unnecessary procedure was performed on him and the effect of the radio broadcast on his life.
The first country to ban lobotomy was the Soviet Union in 1950 as it was considered a practice that violated all forms of human rights. By the 1970s most nations had banned the procedure. A "light" version of Lobotomy, still used today on patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, is called an anterior temporal leucotomy.
Until Freeman introduced the technique of transorbital lobotomy, psychosurgery required the skills of a surgeon. The standard lobotomy/leucotomy involved drilling burr holes in the skull on the side of the head and inserting a cutting instrument; it was thus a "closed" operation, with the surgeon unable to see exactly what he was cutting.
He hammered an ice pick-like instrument, an orbitoclast, through the eye socket and swept through the frontal lobes. The transorbital or "ice pick" lobotomy was done under local anesthesia or using electroconvulsive therapy to render the patient unconscious and could be performed in mental hospitals lacking surgical facilities. [39]
In 1949, 5,074 lobotomies were carried out in the United States and by 1951, 18,608 people had undergone the controversial procedure in that country. [63] One of the most famous people to have a lobotomy was the sister of John F. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, who was rendered profoundly intellectually disabled as a result of the surgery. [64]
Bilateral cingulotomy is a form of psychosurgery, introduced in 1948 as an alternative to lobotomy. Today, it is mainly used in the treatment of depression [1] and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the early years of the twenty-first century, it was used in Russia to treat addiction. [2] [3] [4] It is also used in the treatment of chronic pain. [5]
One of the most notable treatments for the brain occurring in the 20th century was the lobotomy, which was invented in 1935 by Portuguese Neurologist Egas Moniz. [28] The lobotomy was a surgical procedure performed on the brain that targeted the frontal lobe, which is the part of the human brain that controls emotional response.