Against scrap…
Phineas Gage (1823-1860) – a railway worker who survived after his brain was pierced through by a thick metal bar as a result of an accident – is likely to give up his place on the pages of psychology textbooks to a new "hero".
The brain of 24-year-old Brazilian builder Eduardo Leite (Eduardo Leite) punched a metal pin that fell from the fifth floor of a building under construction. He punched Eduardo's helmet and skull in the back of the head and came out between the eyes.
According to the doctors who operated, Eduardo arrived in the operating room conscious, told the doctors that he did not feel pain and told about what had happened. After a very difficult 5-hour operation, during which the skull was opened and the bar was extracted in the same direction in which it penetrated the brain, the patient was in his right mind and did not show any visible psychological consequences of the injury.
This makes his case unique, since the notorious Phineas Gage had significant personality changes after the removal of the metal bar that pierced the brain.
Doctors explain such a miraculous rescue by the fact that the beam passed through an "insignificant" region of the brain that was not involved (at least according to the results of testing using existing methods) in providing cognitive, motor or sensory functions. They also note that just a few centimeters to the side – and Eduardo would have lost one eye, and the left half of his body would have been permanently paralyzed.
Reconstructions of injuries of F.Gage (left) and E. Leite (right)
However, despite the optimistic reports of Luiz Alexandre Essinger, head of the neurosurgery department of the Rio de Janeiro clinic, where a unique patient is being treated, experts doubt that such an injury can do without consequences. According to Marla Hamberger of the Neurological Institute of New York, even if a patient looks normal during a conversation in a hospital room, deeper testing can reveal obvious personality changes.
Humberger claims that even Eduardo's constantly strained upper lip or the fact that he is not bothered by the tightness of the lip can indicate psychological changes. According to her assumptions, based on the results of many years of work with patients who have undergone neurosurgical operations, the areas of the frontal lobes of the brain damaged in both cases under discussion play very important roles in social behavior and cognitive abilities.
The changes that happened to Phineas Gage did not appear immediately. Therefore, in order to find out the truth, specialists can only wait and observe the psychological state of the patient.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of LiveScience:
Modern-Day Phineas Gage? How Man Survived a Rod Through His Brain.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru30.08.2012