In the 1940s and 50s (tapering into the 70s and 80s) tens of thousands
of prefrontal lobotomies (severing the front part of the brain) were performed
in Europe and North America for many types of mental conditions. It was done
because doctors at that time believed that it worked, and they didn’t have many
effective alternatives. However, it didn’t work, it made people worse and it even
killed a few, despite a Nobel prize being awarded to one of the developers of
the procedure.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
Monday, 11 August 2014
Lessons from history #11: Extra- to Intra-cranial Bypass Surgery
This story is about a procedure that made sense and had
supporting evidence, became common practice, but was later discontinued because
a high quality study showed it to be ineffective. The story of extra-cranial
intra-cranial bypass surgery ticks all the boxes: overestimation of benefit, seduction
by the theory, unrecognised bias in studies, and just plain ineffectiveness despite our best effort and beliefs.
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