PAIN MECHANISMS AND THE FRONTAL LOBES: A STUDY OF PREFRONTAL LOBOTOMY FOR INTRACTABLE PAIN

Abstract

Article1 April 1948PAIN MECHANISMS AND THE FRONTAL LOBES: A STUDY OF PREFRONTAL LOBOTOMY FOR INTRACTABLE PAINWALTER FREEMAN, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.P., JAMES W. WATTS, M.D., F.A.C.S.WALTER FREEMAN, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.P.Search for more papers by this author, JAMES W. WATTS, M.D., F.A.C.S.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-28-4-747 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptPhilosophers may argue as to whether pain is a sensation or an emotion. As a sensation it has a threshold, a quality and a localization. Pathways for the transmission of pain run together with the pathways for temperature sensation within the central nervous system. Interruption of these pathways abolishes at least some aspects of pain, while other aspects may be even exaggerated.On the other hand, pain is an emotion, vaguely to acutely uncomfortable, like fear, disgust and sadness or longing. It has a pervasive, insinuating, all-encompassing manner of concentrating the attention on the affected part and of arresting other...Bibliography1. WATTSFREEMAN JWW: Unbearable pain relieved by brain surgery, Science News Letter, 1945, xlviii, 388. Google Scholar2. FREEMANWATTS WJW: Prefrontal lobotomy. Survey of 331 cases, Am. Jr. Med. Sci., 1946, ccxi, 1. CrossrefGoogle Scholar3. POPPEN JE: Prefrontal lobotomy for intractable pain; case report, Lahey Clin. Bull., 1946, iv, 205. Google Scholar4. FREEMANWATTS WJW: Psychosurgery, in SPIEGEL, E.: Progr. Neurol. and Psychiat., 1946, i. Google Scholar5. FREEMANWATTS WJW: Pain of organic disease relieved by prefrontal lobotomy, Lancet, 1946, ii, 953. Also Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 1946, xxxix, 445. CrossrefGoogle Scholar6. WATTSFREEMAN JWW: Psychosurgery for the relief of unbearable pain, Jr. Internat. Coll. Surg., 1946, ix, 679. Google Scholar7. HORRAX G: Experiences with cortical excisions for relief of intractable pain in the extremities, Surgery, 1946, xx, 593. Google Scholar8. VAN WAGENEN WP: Observations on changes in states of mental depression and tension following surgical section of certain frontal lobe pathways, Surgery, 1946, xx, 656. Google Scholar9. OLIVECRONA H: The surgery of pain (in press). Google Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Washington, D. C.*Presented at the Twenty-Eighth Annual Session of the American College of Physicians, Chicago, May 2, 1947.From the Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, George Washington University. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 1 April 1948Volume 28, Issue 4Page: 747-754KeywordsAttentionEmotionsFearFrontal lobe ePublished: 14 March 2020 Issue Published: 1 April 1948 PDF downloadLoading ...