Lobotomy, a cure for what condition?

The answer is B. Lobotomy was performed on mentally ill patients.

Lobotomy is a psychosurgical procedure in which selected connective nerve fibers or tissue are destroyed by severing the frontal lobes of the brain. This is the part of the brain that is involved in judgment and control of emotional behavior and aggressiveness.

It was originally used to treat aggressive patients, for whom in the earlier half of the 20th century treatments were not available. Early operations were performed with surgical knives, electrodes and suction to remove portions of the frontal lobe. While lobotomy did reduce some of the violent behaviors, it left numerous patients with severe behavioral problems, such as loss of initiative, apathy, and varying degrees of intellectual loss.

Lobotomy has an interesting history. It all began when it was reported that when the temporal lobe of dogs were removed, they became tame and calmer. The procedure was then attempted on schizophrenic patients and while some of them died, some did become calmer. Though it was maligned as a gruesome procedure, lobotomy gained popularity after World War II, when the number of annual lobotomy procedures in the United States grew from 500 to 5000. The overcrowded and understaffed mental asylums during this time made this procedure an easy solution.

Today, psychosurgery is used only when a patient does not respond to traditional treatment methods including psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, medication or electroshock treatments. Fortunately, the procedure of blindly removing sections of the frontal lobe has been replaced with more precise neurosurgical techniques. The bilateral cingulotomy targets the cingulate gyrus, a small section of brain that connects the limbic region of the brain with the frontal lobes. It is used to treat major depression, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. With stereotactic magnetic resonance imaging, surgeons can guide a small electrode to the limbic system, which is the brain structure involved in autonomic or automatic body functions and some emotion and behavior. Finally, the gamma knife is a noninvasive tool that focuses radiation at the brain in a very precise manner and is used to treat a number of conditions.

Resources:

Read more history on lobotomy from Brain and Mind Magazine.

Interested in the subject of psychosurgury? Here's a primer from the Principal Health News Web site.