ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDY OF PREFRONTAL LOBOTOMY

Abstract

Because of the high incidence of head wounds (and resultant cerebral damage) sustained by casualties in the war, present interest in the study of injury to the brain has become great. Clinical studies, in which the electroencephalogram was used as an indication of disturbance in cerebral physiology following cranial lesions, have been extensively reported.¹Much experimental laboratory work has been done to support and supplement these clinical data.²Despite the general excellence of these studies, many problems remain for solution because of the deficiencies inherent in the methods employed. The most apparent defect in the clinical work is that few of the subjects were known to the investigators prior to the post-traumatic study. In the experimental work animals were used as subjects; consequently, the results were not directly applicable to the phenomenon of cerebral injury as seen in man. The electroencephalographic work presented in this report was carried