Chronic ear disease as a possible reason for trephination

Bibliographic Data

ID4621200
AuthorsGeorge Mann (0000-0002-3319-3633), George E Mann (corresponding author)
Year1991
Volume1
Issue3-4
Pages165-168
Publication date1991-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.1390010304
OpenAlexW2035107843
LanguageEN
Citations received8

It is rare for any reason to be deduced for the operation of trephination. A Peruvian skull is presented with three trephine holes on one side and evidence of the chronic ear infection known as cholesteatoma on the other. This infection would have produced a facial paralysis on the same side. It is suggested that there would have been an awareness of the connection between the motor area of the brain on one side and the movement of the opposite side of the body, and that a trephination might have been carried out in an attempt to relieve a supposed brain lesion, albeit on the wrong side

Cholesteatoma · Facial paralysis · Lesion · Skull · Facial Nerve Paralysis Treatment and Research · Head and Neck Anomalies · Medicine · Vestibular and auditory disorders · Surgery

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