Psychosurgery In The 1930's

The study of psychosurgery was revived in the early 1930s by Antonio Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist. Also by Almeida Lima his neurosurgical colleague. Monez and Lima started to experiment with the connections between the thalamus, and frontal cortices. While experimenting they reintroduced certain principles from Burckhardt’s research. With this, they developed a specific process called leucotomy. A leucotomy involves a small rod that has a wire loop on one end, to be inserted into the brain, and would cavitate certain areas of white matter. This was used to alter the patient’s personality. Lima and Moniz then began to promote the procedure around Europe (Gallea,2017). Soon after this, the lobotomy launched into acceptance. The North American medical community was introduced to the lobotomy. An American neurologist, and his partner James W. Watts a neurosurgeon took interest in the lobotomy. (Gallea,2017) …show more content…
In the late 1930s, to make the procedure simpler and not as invasive, they changed the surgery to where it only required a 1cm hole for the insertion of the leucotome. A leucotome looks like an ice pick and is used for psychosurgery. He called this procedure the trans orbital lobotomy (Norris,2005). Even though this procedure was simple; the risks of the procedure were dangerous. This procedure could cause infections, seizures, and death. This surgery required the leucotome to be tapped through the orbital bone. One it is through the orbital bone it was brushed through the prefrontal cortex (Gallea,2017). This severed the pathways in the frontal lobe