Psychosurgery in China

The history of psychosurgery in China has followed that of its former communist ally, Russia (although without the very early attempts at operating on the brains of mental patients). Psychosurgery was used in China in the 1940s and early 1950s then, after a gap of about 30 years, taken up again in the 1980s and, more recently, used as a treatment to cure drug addicts.

In 2003, Guodong Gao and colleagues at the Tangdu Hospital in Xian published an article about their use of psychosurgery for drug addiction in the Journal of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. They operated on 28 patients, all of whom had been addicted to drugs (mostly heroin, opium and opioids) for more than 3 years, had had more than 3 previous attempts at detoxification, and consented to surgery. The target of surgery was the nucleus accumbens (unlike in Russia where it is the cingulate gyrus). The average age of the patients was 31, and all but two were men.

The authors appear to be generally enthusiastic about the results of surgery, claiming a high rate of success and low incidence of side effects. However, the article is so confusingly written (or perhaps translated), the terminology so bizarre, the results presented in such a vague and contradictory way, that it is impossible to draw any useful conclusions from it.

The Dundee psychosurgery team’s verdict on this article was: “There is insufficient clinical detail in this report to permit a rigorous analysis of the robustness of these reported positive outcomes”.

In 2004 the Ministry of Health decided to ban the use of psychosurgery on addicts - possibly following the Russian example, or in response to public concern about the treatment. More than 500 addicts had already undergone surgery. It is not clear if the ban applies only to psychosurgery for addiction or to all psychosurgery in China.

The People’s Daily Online, reports on the ban:

The Health Ministry also said the treatment was only allowed for scientific study but banned for clinical practice as it considers the surgery has not become a mature technology suitable for wide clinical application.
Drug addiction can have such a devastating impact on addicts and families that some are willing to pay any price to rid themselves of the evil, and that is why the surgery has gained so much popularity so quickly.
But people willing to undergo surgery cannot possibly have a complete idea about the potential risks, on which even experts have not reached a consensus.
There are other downsides. Already the surgery has been manipulated by people intending to make profit from it.
It is therefore the responsibility of the authorities to remind the public of the side- effects and possible dangers, in medical terms and in medical ethics terms.
Drug-users are living flesh and blood. They have their own rights and dignity that should be taken good care of. Drug abuse may be against our traditional values, but nobody should deny drug addicts the help they need to get over their addiction and the right to enjoy life. If they are deprived of such rights because of the method of their rehabilitation, the question is whether such rehabilitation is moral.
The Health Ministry has done a proper job in issuing the ban in time, which, despite its harsh words, has a great sense of humanity.

Read the whole article here