Explores the historical background of psychosurgery and discusses the anatomic and physiologic basis for such procedures. Guidelines for the appropriate selection of surgical candidates is presented and the four most common psychosurgical procedures practiced today are described. Finally, the overall experience including indications, results and complications for each procedure is reviewed and compared.
Over the past two years, Howard Dully, 56, has worked to discover the story behind the procedure he received as a 12-year-old boy: a transorbital or ice-pick lobotomy. He interviews the son of the infamous doctor who did the procedure, examines his medical records, and talks to his dad about it. [22:49 in length, available via streaming audio or as mp3 file). (November 16, 2005)
Brain surgery to treat people with psychiatric illness was virtually abandoned half a century ago, but recent progress in neuroscience is igniting renewed interest in this field. [28:55 streaming audio broadcast] (April, 2003)
