Ancient Surgery Makes Comeback

Sept. 27 -- Advocates of a crude form of surgery called trepanation, which involves drilling holes into the skull, want to bring the practice back — from prehistoric times.

The art of cranial surgery was practiced up to 5,000 years ago in Europe, and until a few centuries ago on many other continents, according to archaeologists who have found skulls with carefully carved, man-made holes in them. Evidence of healing and bony scar tissue around the holes shows that many of these people lived long lives after going under the knife.

“If you cut a hole in someone’s head, as it heals, the edges smooth out,” says John Verano, an archaeologist at Tulane University who is writing a book on the surgery. “A spongy kind of bone will grow between the gaps.”

From Ancient to Modern Surgery

Trepanation still exists today, but in a different form. In the past few decades there have been a handful of notable cases of people trying the surgery.

The most famous, perhaps, is Amanda Feilding, a British woman who drilled a hole in the top of her head believing that it would bring about a higher state of consciousness — which it has, she says.

Feilding believes something is lost when the skull bones that encase the brain fuse completely together as people grow older, although scientists say there is no evidence that this is true.

“When you’re a child, the arteries in the brain can pulsate more fully,” Feilding says. “The membrane around the brain can expand and the little arteries in the head can expand. The point of trepanation is to give the brain back that pulsation.”

However, one surgeon who observed the videotape of Fielding performing the procedure reportedly noted she could have killed herself in the effort.

Other doctors say there is no scientific evidence to suggest that trepanation is anything but dangerous.

Dr. Michael Sisti, a neurosurgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, told 20/20 earlier this year that drilling a hole in the skull will not improve one’s lifestyle.

“It’s an assault,” he said. “It’s not a procedure. It’s really a form of self-mutilation. Even doctors who are interested in becoming neurosurgeons require a process of five to seven years of intense training and education to learn the techniques that make this kind of procedure safe.”