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Brain of Patient H.M. Being Sliced, Streamed Live

Posted by timothy on from the he-certainly-won't-remember-it dept.

buswolley writes "The slicing of the brain of the famous amnesic patient H.M. into giant histological sections is now in full swing, and is being streamed live. The brain specimen is frozen and sectioned whole during one continuous session that is expected to last approximately 30 hours."

8 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Streaming? Not any more by cdrudge · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, it was prior to being posted on /.

  2. This is ... by Conchobair · · Score: 5, Funny

    Zombie Pr0n.

  3. HM by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those of you unaware, HM had essentially complete loss of long term memory, but a normal short term/working memory and, curiously the ability to commit long term learning to his motor memory. So, he could learn new motor skills (an example would be juggling, but I do not know if HM learned that particular task), but not high-level memories.

    If you're interested in more, then try reading the excellent book: "The man who mistook his wife for his hat".

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  4. Re:So... by rattaroaz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not necessarily. He just doesn't have a brain. He could still be a lawyer.

  5. Organ donation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So I can't help but wonder how they got HM to consent to organ donation ? Did they ask him everyday until his death ? Or perhaps he got "organ donor" tattooed on his body ?

    1. Re:Organ donation by Tynin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I cannot find the article that goes over it, but I recall reading about him some time ago. During the interview he was quite aware of his condition, after all he remembers everything that happened prior to his surgery to help control his seizures. He basically said that he wanted to help the doctors better understand his condition in any way that could be beneficial because that information could help other people. Wish I could find the article, as I do believe he had enough understanding and did give permission.

  6. Re:So... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not necessarily. He just doesn't have a brain. He could still be a lawyer.

    Or a Slashdot moderator.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  7. Re:Necessary? by Pronkzilla · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am a pathology resident who has done about ten autopsies and from my limited experience I can say that this practice is absolutely necessary. The reasoning behind sectioning the brain is to obtain tissue for histologic examination (i.e. under a microscope). This is done to correlate clinical or radiologic findings with actual disease processes. A simple example would be a case of a small brain hemorrhage, where the radiologist thinks he/she sees some bleeding in a certain area of the brain. On autopsy, we can slice up the brain, take sections to be processed and placed on a glass slide, and actually look at the brain microscopically to confirm that there was indeed hemorrhage in the area of brain suspected by the radiologist. Also, brain sectioning/microscopic evaluation can reveal lesions or abnormalities that are not visible to the radiologist (i.e. early Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc.)