The fruit of my Labour
Oh, the fruit of my labour tastes so sweet. I finished my neurology report yesterday and finally handed it in. I am in a very good mood, because I got 95.6% on my English exam and 80% on my French exam!!! = )
Also, I just received my third and final vaccination against cervical cancer, so I can now safely go and shag all those blokes who are lining up half way around the block... ; )
Here's my research paper if anyone's interested:
Neurosurgery and the History Thereof
What I already know about the topic:
Neurosurgery is the medical term for brain surgery. It is often used for removing brain tumors or aneurysms. An incision is made into the skull and diseases found in the spinal cord or nervous system may be amended , though any surgery conducted in the brain might also cause serious damage such as paralysis or in some cases death if it is done incorrectly. Lobotomy, for example, was quite an escapade , but fortunately many patients who were subjected to this futile treatment did not retain any grave injuries, seeing as the brain is a very sturdy organ. That was established when a man's skull was pierced by a sharp metal object during an accident in the 19th century and he survived it almost unscathed apart from a sudden change in personality. One form of lobotomy involves an icepick being inserted into the skull by way of the eye socket in a similar way, severing the connection of the frontal lobe (the front part of the brain) to the pre frontal cortex (the part behind the frontal lobe). This technique was mainly used in American asylums and mental hospitals in the 1940's and 50's. I found out all of this watching an enthralling documentary film during the summer break.
The diagnosis of neurological conditions has improved greatly throughout medical history. Technology has evolved enough for surgeons to identify certain ailments of the brain by scans. One of these is the CT or CAT scan that facilitate the diagnosis of conditions such as aneurysms; the expansion of a blood vessel due to weakened vessel walls, the concept of which intrigued me upon hearing about it in a television programm. If an aneurysm is not treated, the results are mostly fatal, because it is prone to bursting, thereby causing a haemorrhage. Blood clots may also be caused if an aneurysm remains undiscovered, though these situations can be prevented by surgical intervention.
What I Want to Find Out:
The following list consists of questions concerning the history of neurosurgery, pertaining aspects of the topic that are, as of yet, elusive to me:
The Search:
I read in an article on the internet that Harvey Cushing, one of the best neurosurgeons of the 20th was born in Ohio in the United States in 1869. The American surgeon vastly improved the chances of patients surviving complex neurosurgery and he was one of the first to use x-rays for the identification of brain tumors. Apart from being one of the most qualified teachers of neurology, he also made a ground breaking discovery pertaining surgery on the pituitary gland, a gland at the base of the brain that is part of an important network of glands that regulate ones hormones. Cushing was the first to discover Cushing's disease that results in rapid weight gain in the face and torso, muscle degradation and insomnia, as well as the weakening of skin tissue, thereby causing it to haemorrhage. The disease is caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland, stimulating it to produce extensive amounts of ACTH, a hormone normally responding to stress, which, in turn, triggers the excessive release of cortisol, a hormone responding to ACTH that causes the said symptoms. The only difference between Cushing's disease and Cushing's syndrome is the cause, for Cushing's syndrome is merely a dysfunction of the pituitary gland rather than a disease. Harvey Cushing was able to cure this condition by surgical intervention.
Gottlieb Burckhardt, a psychiatrist, developed the, in my opinion, crude and brutal concept of lobotomy , trying it on six patients from a Swiss mental hospital in 1890, removing parts of the frontal lobe by drilling into the forehead. The first patient died after the operation, one patient presumably committed suicide and the four remaining patients' behavioural patterns changed completely, leading them to feeling ill at ease. Burckhardt had succeeded in achieving the opposite effect to what he had intended. Instead of pacifying the rampant mental patients, the lobotomy riled them up even further. A few surgeons attempted lobotomy over the course of the years, though the most famous of them was, indubitably, Walter Freeman, a man obsessed with curing mental patients in America's asylums by driving icepicks into their eye sockets, though this procedure was quite futile.
Quite recently, it became possible to study the brain without having to dissect it in an autopsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and Computed tomography (CT) facilitate the noninvasive analysis of the brain. MRI transmits high-frequency radio waves with the help of water molecules found in the brain's tissue and a strong magnetic field. Subsequently, MRI generates images of the brain, which makes it an important diagnostic tool. The first prototype of a CT was created in 1900 and used ever since for generating three 3 dimensional x-rays.
In the 19th century, a French surgeon established that the lower left part of the brain is responsible for speech after the death of a patent whose capacity thereof was rather limited. This, as he found out during and autopsy, was due to a large tumor situated at the aforementioned location. Also, surgeons deduced in 1848 from a man's altered personality and capacity for social interaction after a mining accident involving his frontal lobe being severely injured after a sharp object that pierced his skull cartilage lacerated it partially. The change in the man's personality came about from the area of his brain responsible for it being disconnected from the rest. This also occurred during lobotomy. The discoveries I stated above made a considerable impact on modern neurosurgery.
“A congenital malformation in which a snarled tangle of arteries and veins in the brain disrupts blood flow.”
Reading a magasine, I found out that cerebral aneurysms are often congenital, which means one was born with it, mostly due to irregularities in an artery wall. Also, people with genetic disorders are more prone to aneurysms than others. Head injuries are high blood pressure can also lead to that condition, as well as tumors. The dilation of a blood vessel might also be due to drug abuse, especially cocaine, the excessive consumption of which can cause infections and thereby aneurysms.
In the case of removing a cerebral aneurysm, it is possible to either clip or coil it. In medical terms, coiling the dilated vessel is called endovascular treatment. For this treatment, platinum coils are inserted into the artery bearing the aneurysm via a catheter, a plastic tube, and is guided to its destination by x-ray surveillance. Another, smaller catheter joins the first in the affected artery to place the coil that the larger one had been carrying into the aneurysm to occlude, or block it. For a patient with a ruptured aneurysm, this treatment is beneficial, yielding better chances of survival, though an intact aneurysm can also be removed by clipping. This procedure involves a surgeon isolating the impaired blood vessed before clamping the neck of the aneurysm with a clip.
What I Learned:
By conducting this research, I extended my knowledge concerning neurosurgery greatly. This includes me having gained an enormous amount of insight into endocrinology. I have also realised that any of the thing I described above could happen to anyone, especially lobotomy in the 1950's. Having researched the topic so intensely. I can state freely that I am glad not to been an American mental patient at the time. That just goes to show how far neurosurgery has come since that crude brutality.
Another area that I now have a better grasp upon is medical terminology. Reading articles that were written specifically for surgeons turned out to be rather challenging. My dictionary was, discernibly, for this search, my constant accomplice. I thereby, inadvertently, improved my vocabulary and understanding of scientific terms. This exercise gave me an intellectual growth spurt.
Bibliography:
Also, I just received my third and final vaccination against cervical cancer, so I can now safely go and shag all those blokes who are lining up half way around the block... ; )
Here's my research paper if anyone's interested:
Neurosurgery and the History Thereof
What I already know about the topic:
Neurosurgery is the medical term for brain surgery. It is often used for removing brain tumors or aneurysms. An incision is made into the skull and diseases found in the spinal cord or nervous system may be amended , though any surgery conducted in the brain might also cause serious damage such as paralysis or in some cases death if it is done incorrectly. Lobotomy, for example, was quite an escapade , but fortunately many patients who were subjected to this futile treatment did not retain any grave injuries, seeing as the brain is a very sturdy organ. That was established when a man's skull was pierced by a sharp metal object during an accident in the 19th century and he survived it almost unscathed apart from a sudden change in personality. One form of lobotomy involves an icepick being inserted into the skull by way of the eye socket in a similar way, severing the connection of the frontal lobe (the front part of the brain) to the pre frontal cortex (the part behind the frontal lobe). This technique was mainly used in American asylums and mental hospitals in the 1940's and 50's. I found out all of this watching an enthralling documentary film during the summer break.
The diagnosis of neurological conditions has improved greatly throughout medical history. Technology has evolved enough for surgeons to identify certain ailments of the brain by scans. One of these is the CT or CAT scan that facilitate the diagnosis of conditions such as aneurysms; the expansion of a blood vessel due to weakened vessel walls, the concept of which intrigued me upon hearing about it in a television programm. If an aneurysm is not treated, the results are mostly fatal, because it is prone to bursting, thereby causing a haemorrhage. Blood clots may also be caused if an aneurysm remains undiscovered, though these situations can be prevented by surgical intervention.
What I Want to Find Out:
The following list consists of questions concerning the history of neurosurgery, pertaining aspects of the topic that are, as of yet, elusive to me:
What was milestones in neurological surgery?
How and Why is brain surgery or damage able to affect one's personality?
How are neurological conditions diagnosed?
Who was a pioneer of neurosurgery?
Who invented lobotomy?
What did this person strive to achieve by lobotomy?
What causes aneurysms?
How are aneurysms treated?
The Search:
I read in an article on the internet that Harvey Cushing, one of the best neurosurgeons of the 20th was born in Ohio in the United States in 1869. The American surgeon vastly improved the chances of patients surviving complex neurosurgery and he was one of the first to use x-rays for the identification of brain tumors. Apart from being one of the most qualified teachers of neurology, he also made a ground breaking discovery pertaining surgery on the pituitary gland, a gland at the base of the brain that is part of an important network of glands that regulate ones hormones. Cushing was the first to discover Cushing's disease that results in rapid weight gain in the face and torso, muscle degradation and insomnia, as well as the weakening of skin tissue, thereby causing it to haemorrhage. The disease is caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland, stimulating it to produce extensive amounts of ACTH, a hormone normally responding to stress, which, in turn, triggers the excessive release of cortisol, a hormone responding to ACTH that causes the said symptoms. The only difference between Cushing's disease and Cushing's syndrome is the cause, for Cushing's syndrome is merely a dysfunction of the pituitary gland rather than a disease. Harvey Cushing was able to cure this condition by surgical intervention.
Gottlieb Burckhardt, a psychiatrist, developed the, in my opinion, crude and brutal concept of lobotomy , trying it on six patients from a Swiss mental hospital in 1890, removing parts of the frontal lobe by drilling into the forehead. The first patient died after the operation, one patient presumably committed suicide and the four remaining patients' behavioural patterns changed completely, leading them to feeling ill at ease. Burckhardt had succeeded in achieving the opposite effect to what he had intended. Instead of pacifying the rampant mental patients, the lobotomy riled them up even further. A few surgeons attempted lobotomy over the course of the years, though the most famous of them was, indubitably, Walter Freeman, a man obsessed with curing mental patients in America's asylums by driving icepicks into their eye sockets, though this procedure was quite futile.
Quite recently, it became possible to study the brain without having to dissect it in an autopsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and Computed tomography (CT) facilitate the noninvasive analysis of the brain. MRI transmits high-frequency radio waves with the help of water molecules found in the brain's tissue and a strong magnetic field. Subsequently, MRI generates images of the brain, which makes it an important diagnostic tool. The first prototype of a CT was created in 1900 and used ever since for generating three 3 dimensional x-rays.
In the 19th century, a French surgeon established that the lower left part of the brain is responsible for speech after the death of a patent whose capacity thereof was rather limited. This, as he found out during and autopsy, was due to a large tumor situated at the aforementioned location. Also, surgeons deduced in 1848 from a man's altered personality and capacity for social interaction after a mining accident involving his frontal lobe being severely injured after a sharp object that pierced his skull cartilage lacerated it partially. The change in the man's personality came about from the area of his brain responsible for it being disconnected from the rest. This also occurred during lobotomy. The discoveries I stated above made a considerable impact on modern neurosurgery.
“A congenital malformation in which a snarled tangle of arteries and veins in the brain disrupts blood flow.”
Reading a magasine, I found out that cerebral aneurysms are often congenital, which means one was born with it, mostly due to irregularities in an artery wall. Also, people with genetic disorders are more prone to aneurysms than others. Head injuries are high blood pressure can also lead to that condition, as well as tumors. The dilation of a blood vessel might also be due to drug abuse, especially cocaine, the excessive consumption of which can cause infections and thereby aneurysms.
In the case of removing a cerebral aneurysm, it is possible to either clip or coil it. In medical terms, coiling the dilated vessel is called endovascular treatment. For this treatment, platinum coils are inserted into the artery bearing the aneurysm via a catheter, a plastic tube, and is guided to its destination by x-ray surveillance. Another, smaller catheter joins the first in the affected artery to place the coil that the larger one had been carrying into the aneurysm to occlude, or block it. For a patient with a ruptured aneurysm, this treatment is beneficial, yielding better chances of survival, though an intact aneurysm can also be removed by clipping. This procedure involves a surgeon isolating the impaired blood vessed before clamping the neck of the aneurysm with a clip.
What I Learned:
By conducting this research, I extended my knowledge concerning neurosurgery greatly. This includes me having gained an enormous amount of insight into endocrinology. I have also realised that any of the thing I described above could happen to anyone, especially lobotomy in the 1950's. Having researched the topic so intensely. I can state freely that I am glad not to been an American mental patient at the time. That just goes to show how far neurosurgery has come since that crude brutality.
Another area that I now have a better grasp upon is medical terminology. Reading articles that were written specifically for surgeons turned out to be rather challenging. My dictionary was, discernibly, for this search, my constant accomplice. I thereby, inadvertently, improved my vocabulary and understanding of scientific terms. This exercise gave me an intellectual growth spurt.
Bibliography:
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cerebral_aneurysm/detail_cerebral_aneurysm.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurosuregery
the Lancet
Advanced Biology, Michael Kent
Biology Course Companion, Andrew Allott and David Mindorff