Article

2009-05-20 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Aussie GP does brain surgery with household drill

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Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-05-20 01:52|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Hat tip to Dr. Carson who had the courage to ....drill here - drill now! Doubt it would have happened in the lawyer enriched USA.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-05-20 07:48|| 2009-05-20 07:48|| Front Page Top

#2 Ironically, this was the very first discovery ever made about brain surgery--that you absolutely must relieve the pressure of bleeding or the patient will die immediately.

English King Henry II (d. 1599) had a splinter impaled in his brain while jousting, but was still alive. The royal surgeon knew that to leave it in was certain, immediate death. But nobody knew what would happen were it to be removed. So in consultation with two other doctors, they removed the splinter, and Henry II lived another 9 days.

The next major advances in brain surgery didn't happen until the US Civil War, because until then, brain injuries either killed immediately, or were not conducive to surgery. The invention of the mini ball changed that, often tearing away a chunk of skull, but leaving the brain underneath relatively unharmed.

Posted by Anonymoose 2009-05-20 12:39|| 2009-05-20 12:39|| Front Page Top

#3 Trephaning goes back to the Paleolithic, of course it was to let the devils out, but it may have dones just this on occasion...

Posted by Spereger Untervehr6555 2009-05-20 15:23|| 2009-05-20 15:23|| Front Page Top

#4 Correction to #2: It was FRENCH King Henry II, in 1559

Posted by mom">mom 2009-05-20 16:35|| 2009-05-20 16:35|| Front Page Top

#5 Some of the Indians of Peru were knowledgable of brain surgery, and apparently did it frequently. The Incas crushed them, and didn't continue to do brain surgery. The Spanish conquered the Incas, and it wasn't until the 19th Century that the people of Latin America were re-introduced to brain surgery.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2009-05-20 17:43|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2009-05-20 17:43|| Front Page Top

#6 I don't know whether I'd rather have a bottle in front of me or a frontal lobotomy.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2009-05-20 18:17|| 2009-05-20 18:17|| Front Page Top

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