A LEUCOTOMIA DE EGAS MONIZ, 1/2 PRÉMIO NOBEL
Os primeiros monstros:
Carlyle Jacobsen, a scientist working in Yale University, observed that aggressive behavior in chimpanzees sometimes diminished after their frontal and prefrontal cortexes were damaged by means of lobotomy, which means 'lobe cutting'. In a similar experiment, Dr. John Fulton, also of Yale, was unable to provoke experimental neurosis in two chimpanzees after completely removing the frontal lobes of their brains. This was enough to convince Fulton of the effectiveness and usefulness of this type of surgery, and he subsequently became one of the more established and influential proponents of psychosurgery in the United States.
O imitador:
Portuguese neuropsychiatrist Dr. António Egas Moniz heard Fulton speak during a neurological conference in London, and was so impressed with what he heard that he decided to apply a version of the procedure to people suffering from long-term symptoms of mental illness such as obsessive-compulsive disorders and paranoia. In a piece of deductive reasoning which would be laughably facile in most other circumstances, he proposed that since symptoms such as paranoia involved recurring thought patterns, the best way to cut off such thoughts might be to simply interrupt their flow by surgically severing the nerve fibers connecting the frontal and prefrontal cortex to the thalamus, a structure located deep in the brain relaying sensory information to the cortex.
A implementação da prática depois de ter andado a destruir partes do cérebro ao acaso:After briefly experimenting with destructive injections of alcohol directly into the brains of patients, Moniz and a neurosurgeon named Dr. Ameida Lima together developed a surgical procedure which they called leukotomy, which means 'white matter cutting', in which holes were drilled in the patient's skull on either side. A flat wire knife known as a leukotome was inserted through each hole and into the brain substance, and then moved from side to side a few times to destroy and sever the nerves.
O Insucesso:
Moniz reported limited success with this technique, claiming that some patients who had formerly suffered severe depression improved after the surgery, but some patients were not helped by it at all. He himself recommended that leukotomy should only be used as a last resort in cases regarded as otherwise hopeless. In 1936, after Moniz's results were published, leukotomy was taken up in a few centers around the world for a while without much success. The majority of psychiatrists, particularly psychoanalysts, were strenuously opposed to it;
Crime e Castigo, um fim dostoievskiano (E KÁRMICO)?:
Moniz himself was shot in the spine and permanently paralyzed by one of his ex-patients, and thus could no longer practice (can you say 'karma'?); and before long the use of leukotomy had all but ceased.
Desenho do genial R.Crumbposted by Miguel Drummond de Castro | 22:40
1 Comments:
Caro Miguel.
A sua descrição acerca da influência de Fulton em Moniz é caricatural. A parte do "crime e castigo" é falsa. Moniz sofreu, de facto, um atentado, mas não ficou paralisado. Recuperou e viveu mais 10 anos (recebeu o Nobel em 1949) e, depois, mais 26, deslocando-se normalmente.
Cordialmente.
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