lobotomy
n. incision into various nerve tracts in the frontal lobe of the brain. The original surgical procedure, called prefrontal (or frontal) lobotomy, was introduced in 1936 by Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz (1874–1955): Connections between the frontal lobe and other brain structures—notably the thalamus—were severed by manipulating a narrow blade known as a leukotome inserted into brain tissue through several small holes drilled in the skull. A second procedure, called transorbital lobotomy, was devised in 1945 and involved the manipulation of a pointed instrument resembling an ice pick driven with a mallet through the thin bony wall of the eye socket and into the prefrontal brain. Both procedures were widely used to relieve the symptoms of severe mental disorder (including depression and schizophrenia) until the advent of antipsychotic drugs in the 1950s. These operations did, on
occasion, result in improved function for some patients, but others either died as a consequence of the surgery or suffered major personality changes, becoming apathetic and prone to inappropriate social behavior; some also developed a seizure disorder. Such procedures have since been replaced by more sophisticated, stereotactic forms of neurosurgery that are less invasive and whose effects are more certain and less damaging. Also called leukotomy.