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The story of Phineas Gage, a railroad foreman who suffered a serious accident in the 19th century, continues to educate doctors about understanding our brains. Indeed, experts had the idea of modeling his injury in three dimensions.
Do you know the story of Phineas Gage? This railway foreman, who lived in the United States in the 19th century, was the victim of a serious accident in 1848. At the age of 25, he caused an explosion while handling an iron bar. and a stick of dynamite. The violence of the detonation will propel the iron bar, piercing his left cheek and emerging through the top of his skull. But he will not be killed by the violence of the accident.
Much of his left frontal lobe lost
After this serious accident, Phineas Gage was taken care of and miraculously survived, although he lost a large part of his left frontal lobe in the process. This is precisely what will make his situation a case study. Because if Phineas Gage does not die, he will change his behavior and character, in a very marked way. The person who was considered to be “the most efficient and competent foreman” will, after his accident, be much less pleasant towards others.
He will even be characterized as being “capricious, irreverent and grossly rude”, which will cost him his job. Phineas Gage died around ten years later, following an epileptic seizure, probably caused by his injury.
A 3D model of his injury
If we know today that the frontal lobe is the seat of speech and language, this accident highlighted, at the time, the functions of this brain area, concerning personality and behavior towards others also. Researchers have just modeled his injury in 3D, based on information known at the time.
“What was interesting in this project was to use 3D technology and the knowledge acquired in surgical planning to reconstruct the dynamics of the bar passing through the head” explains Cicero Moraes, 3D designer and forensic expert.
“A high-resolution scan of a brain was imported into the scene and that brain was adjusted to fit the space of Gage’s skull as best as possible. adds the specialist, who indicates that with “All this combined, it was possible to animate the scene, by seeing where the bar passed and what part of the brain it touched.. Cicero Moraes’ work was published in the online journal OrtogOnLine.
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