Frontal lobotomy

Lobotomy
"Dr. Walter Freeman, left, and Dr. James W. Watts study an X ray before a psychosurgical operation. Psychosurgery is cutting into the brain to form new patterns and rid a patient of delusions, obsessions, nervous tensions and the like." Waldemar Kaempffert, "Turning the Mind Inside Out", Saturday Evening Post, 24 May 1941.
ICD-9-CM	01.32
MeSH	D011612
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Lobotomy (Greek: λοβός lobos "lobe (of brain)"; τομή tomē "cut, slice") is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy (from the Greek λευκός leukos "clear, white" and tomē). It consists of cutting or scraping away most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain.

The procedure was controversial from its inception. It was prescribed for psychiatric (and occasionally other) conditions as a mainstream procedure in some Western countries for more than two decades. This was despite general recognition of frequent and serious side effects. While some patients experienced symptomatic improvement with the operation, the improvements were achieved at the cost of creating other impairments. The balance between benefits and risks contributed to the controversial nature of the procedure. The originator of the procedure, Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz, shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine of 1949 for the "discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses", although the awarding of the prize has been subject to controversy.

The use of the procedure increased dramatically from the early 1940s and into the 1950s; by 1951, almost 20,000 lobotomies had been performed in the United States alone. The majority of lobotomies were performed on women; A 1951 study of American hospitals found nearly 60% of lobotomy patients were women; data shows 74% of lobotomies in Ontario from 1948–1952 were performed on women. Following the introduction of antipsychotic medications in the mid-1950s, lobotomies were quickly and almost completely abandoned.

The purpose of the operation was to reduce the symptoms of mental disorder, and it was recognized that this was accomplished at the expense of a person's personality and intellect. British psychiatrist Maurice Partridge, who conducted a follow-up study of 300 patients, said that the treatment achieved its effects by "reducing the complexity of psychic life". Following the operation, spontaneity, responsiveness, self-awareness and self-control were reduced. Activity was replaced by inertia, and people were left emotionally blunted and restricted in their intellectual range.