Trepanation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trepanation (also known trepanning, trephination, trephining or burr hole) is a form of surgery in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, thus exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases, though in the modern era it is used only to treat epidural and subdural hematomas, as an extreme body modification, and for surgical access for certain other neurosurgical procedures (e.g. intracranial pressure monitoring).
A trepan may also refer to a rock-boring tool used for sinking mine shafts. It is also a kind of industrial drill bit, commonly used to bore large diameter holes in metal and sometimes referred to as a BTA drill. The drill characteristically leaves a core.
Trepanation was carried out for both medical reasons and mystical practices for a long time: Evidence of trepanation has been found in prehistoric human remains from Neolithic times onwards, per cave paintings indicating that people believed the practice would cure epileptic seizures, migraines, and mental disorders.[Brothwell, D.R. Digging up Bones. 1963:126] Furthermore, Hippocrates gave specific directions on the procedure from its evolution through the Greek age.
Contents |
[edit] History of trepanation
[edit] Trepanation in the Old World
Trepanation is perhaps the oldest surgical procedure for which there is evidence[1], and in some areas may have been quite widespread. Out of 120 prehistoric skulls found at one burial site in France dated to 6500 BC, 40 had trepanation holes.[2] Surprisingly, many prehistoric and premodern patients of the surgery survived their operation.
Trepanation was also practiced in the classical and Renaissance periods. Hippocrates gave specific directions on the procedure from its evolution through the Greek age, and Galen elaborates on the procedure, too. Doctors in ancient Egypt used the scrapings of the skull to create love potions and other concoctions.[citation needed]
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, trepanation was practiced as a cure for various ailments, including seizures and skull fractures. The surgeons who performed these trepanations were probably highly skilled because the survival rate of the operations was high and the infection rate was low.[3]
 |
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
[edit] Trepanation in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
In pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, evidence for the practice of trepanation and an assortment of other cranial deformation techniques comes from a variety of sources, including physical cranial remains of pre-Columbian burials, allusions in iconographic artworks and reports from the post-colonial period.
Among New World societies, trephinning is most commonly found in the Andean civilizations such as the Inca.[4] Its prevalence among Mesoamerican civilizations is much lower, at least judging from the comparatively few trepanated crania which have been uncovered.[5]
The archaeological record in Mesoamerica is further complicated by the practice of skull mutilation and modification which was carried out after the death of the subject, in order to fashion "trophy skulls" and the like of captives and enemies. This was a reasonably widespread tradition, illustrated in pre-Columbian art which on occasion depicts rulers adorned with or carrying the modified skulls of their defeated enemies, or of the ritualistic display of sacrificial victims. Several Mesoamerican cultures used a skull-rack (known by its Nahuatl term, tzompantli ) on which skulls were impaled in rows or columns of wooden stakes.
Even so, some evidence of genuine trepanation in Mesoamerica (i.e., where the subject was living) has been recovered.
The earliest archaeological survey[6] published of trepanated crania was a late 19th-century study of several specimens recovered from the Tarahumara mountains by the Norwegian ethnographer Carl Lumholtz.[7] Later studies documented cases identified from a range of sites in Oaxaca and central Mexico, such as Tilantongo, Oaxaca and the major Zapotec site of Monte Albán. Two specimens from the Tlatilco civilization's homelands (which flourished around 1400 BCE) indicate the practice has a lengthy tradition.[8]
A study of ten low-status burials from the Late Classic period at Monte Albán concluded that the trepanation had been applied non-therapeutically, and, since multiple techniques had been used and since some people had received more than one trepanation, concluded it had been done experimentally. Inferring the events to represent experiments on people until they died, the study interpreted that use of trepanation as an indicator of the stressful sociopolitical climate that not long thereafter resulted in the abandonment of Monte Alban as the primary regional administrative center in the Oaxacan highlands.[citation needed]
Specimens identified from the Maya civilization region of southern Mexico, Guatemala and the Yucatán peninsula show no evidence of the drilling or cutting techniques found in central and highland Mexico. Instead, the pre-Columbian Maya seemed to have utilised an abrasive technique which ground away at the back of the skull, thinning the bone and sometimes perforating it, similar to the examples from Cholula. Many of the skulls from the Maya region date from the Postclassic period (ca. 950–1400), and include specimens found at Palenque in Chiapas, and recovered from the sacred cenote at the prominent Postclassic site of Chichen Itza in northern Yucatán.[9]
[edit] Trepanation in modern times
Although widely considered today to be pseudoscience, the practice of trepanation for medical benefits continues. The most prominent explanation for these benefits is offered by Bart Hughes, sometimes referred to as "Dr. Bart Hughes" even though he did not complete his medical degree. In the Hughes theory, trepanation increases "brain blood volume" and thereby enhances cerebral metabolism in a manner similar to cerebral vasodilators such as gingko biloba. No published results of clinical trials of trepanation have supported this theory. There is an ongoing study involving pre and post operative MRI in a Mexican cosmetic surgery clinic.[1] Publication of this study is uncertain.
Other modern practitioners of trepanation claim that it holds other medical benefits, such as a treatment for depression or other psychological ailments. In 2000 two men from Cedar City, Utah were prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license after they performed a trepanation on an Englishwoman to treat her chronic fatigue syndrome and depression.[2]
However, most individuals who practice non-emergency trepanation today do so for psychic purposes. A prominent proponent of the modern view is Peter Halvorson, who drilled a hole in the front of his own skull to increase "brain blood volume".[10]. Amanda Feilding performed a self-trepanation with a drill, while her partner Joey Mellen filmed the operation, in the film titled Heartbeat in the Brain. The film has since become a lost film.
While these uses of trepanation are considered pseudoscience in the legitimate medical community, trepanation is a widely accepted treatment for epidural and subdural hematomas, and for surgical access for certain other neurosurgical procedures (e.g. intracranial pressure monitoring). In almost all cases, the removed piece of skull is replaced as soon as possible.
[edit] Miscellaneous references
- The album Grand Guignol by John Zorn's band Naked City features a cover shot of a trepanned head, taken from a medical archive.
- Following the arrest of American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, several accusations surfaced that he had practiced a form of trepanation on his victims.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Capasso L., 2001. Principi di Storia della Patologia Umana, Roma.
- Restak, Richard (2000). "Fixing the Brain", {{{title}}}. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic.
- Lumholtz, Carl (1897). "Trephining in Mexico". American Anthropologist 10 (12): pp.389–396.
- Romero Molina, Javier (1970). "Dental Mutilation, Trephination, and Cranial Deformation", in Wauchope, et. al. (Eds.): Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 9, 2nd. edition (revised), Austin: University of Texas.
- Tiesler Blos, Vera (1999). "Rasgos Bioculturales Entre los Antiguos Mayas: Aspectos Culturales y Sociales". Doctoral thesis in Anthropology, UNAM. (Spanish)
- Tiesler Blos, Vera (2003a). "Cranial Surgery in Ancient Mesoamerica" (PDF). Mesoweb. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.
- Tiesler Blos, Vera (2003b). "Head Shaping and Dental Decoration Among the Ancient Maya" (PDF). Mesoweb. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.
- Carey, Stephen S. (2004) A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method. Third Edition. Toronto: Thomson Wadsworth
- Czarnetzki, A (2001). "Trepanations from the early medieval period in southwestern Germany--indications, complications and outcome".
