Trepanation: An Ancient Form of Brain Surgery: Background information when reading Gray Matters

In Theodore H. Schwartz's book, Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery, the author traces the history of neurosurgery. His account begins with the work of Dr. Harvey Cushing, whom he calls the "undisputed founding father of neurosurgery," in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. If one considers any deliberate operation on the brain to be "brain surgery," however, the art has actually been around for millennia.

Trepanation—the act of creating a hole in the skull for medical reasons—is considered one of the world's most ancient surgical techniques. It's been practiced since at least the Neolithic period (beginning 10,000 BCE) and fossil evidence of its use has been found in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. In many cases trepanation was used to alleviate brain swelling and a buildup of fluid inside the skull, but evidence suggests it may also have been employed to cure cases of epilepsy, chronic migraine, and mental illness.

The technique used to create the ...