Music and Medicine: The Tragic Case of Gershwin's Brain Tumor and the Challenges of Neurosurgery in the First Half of the 20th Century

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Davide Bagatti ; ^{davide.bagatti@libero.it" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author}
• 关键词：Auras ; Gershwin ; Music ; Neurosurgery ; Seizure
• 刊名：World Neurosurgery
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：January 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：85
• 期：Complete
• 页码：298-304
• 全文大小：1104 K

文摘

Although neurosurgery has gone through moments of great renewal in recent decades, at the beginning of the 20th century it was still dealing with the unfathomable mysteries of the nervous system and its disorders. Historical insight improves understanding of the great personalities of the past and allows us to look at the efforts of pioneering surgeons with greater awareness.

Methods

The literature was reviewed using online databases, textbooks, and retrieved articles.

Results

An overview of the case of Gershwin's brain tumor and its surgical resection is presented.

Conclusions

This article presents the tragic case of Gershwin's brain tumor. Through his story, it is possible to get an idea of the difficulties with which the great neuroscientists and surgeons of the past approached the human nervous system and its pathologic manifestations. The first part of this article deals with the evolution of Gershwin's disease over the years and the subsequent brain surgery. In the second part, general considerations on the most striking symptoms experienced by the composer are reported, as well as a description of the different hypotheses on the nature of Gershwin's tumor.