Traumatic frontal lobe lesions in miners working at Montes de Triano in the late 19th century

A. García-Molina, A. Enseñat-Cantallops
Neurosciences and History 2017; 5(2): 52-57

Type of article: ORIGINAL

AUTHOR

A. García-Molina^1,2, A. Enseñat-Cantallops^1,2
1Institut Guttmann. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Badalona, Spain.
²Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.

ABSTRACT

Extensive evidence is available today of the association between lesions to the prefrontal circuits and cognitive impairment; this was not the case in the late 19th century, however. This study aims to present the contributions to this topic made by Dr Enrique Areilza Arregui between 1881 and 1898. During his days as the director of the Miners’ Hospital of Triano, Areilza had the opportunity to study and describe the behavioural effects of traumatic lesions to the frontal lobe. In 1887, Areilza published De las fracturas del cráneo y de la trepanación, a monograph describing the cases of 27 patients with traumatic brain injuries, 7 of whom had frontal lobe lesions. In his 1899 article “El delirio en las fracturas de la base del cráneo”, Areilza not only describes the patients’ behaviour but also reports experiments he conducted with one of the patients due to the peculiar characteristics of the case. Areilza’s observations in miners working in Montes de Triano, a mountain range in the Basque Country, constitute one of the ¢ rst clinical contributions to the functional study of the frontal lobe.

KEYWORDS

19th century history, brain damage, frontal lobe, mining, neuroscience, neurosurgery

Neurosciences and History 2017; 5(2): 52-57