PHYSIOLOGY/MEDICINE: António Egas Moniz 1949 - Lisboa, Portugal - Nobel Laureates on Waymarking.com

«(Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire) Egas Moniz was born in Avanca, Portugal, on November 29, 1874, the son of Fernando de Pina Rezende Abreu and Maria do Rosario de Almeida e Sousa. He received his early education from his uncle Abbé Caetano de Pina Rezende Abreu Sa Freire, before joining the Faculty of Medicine at Coimbra University. He received further education at Bordeaux and Paris and became Professor at Coimbra in 1902. In 1911 he transferred to the new Chair in Neurology at Lisbon where he remained until his death. He also worked for a time as a physician in the Hospital of Santa Maria, Lisbon.

Moniz entered politics in 1903 and served as a Deputy in the Portugese Parliament until 1917 when he became Portuguese Ambassador to Spain. Later in 1917 he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and he was President of the Portuguese Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1918.

Moniz discovered cerebral angiography and prefrontal leucotomy.»

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949 was divided equally between Walter Rudolf Hess "for his discovery of the functional organization of the interbrain as a coordinator of the activities of the internal organs" and Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz "for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses".

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«Lobotomy is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy. It consists of cutting the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain. While the procedure, initially termed a leucotomy, has been controversial since its inception in 1935, it was a mainstream procedure for more than two decades, prescribed for psychiatric (and occasionally other) conditions—this despite general recognition of frequent and serious side-effects. Half of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine of 1949 was awarded to António Egas Moniz for the "discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses". The heyday of its usage was from the early 1940s until the mid-1950s when modern neuroleptic (antipsychotic) medications were introduced. By 1951 almost 20,000 lobotomies had been performed in the United States. The decline of the procedure was gradual rather than precipitous. In Ottawa's psychiatric hospitals, for instance, the 153 lobotomies performed in 1953 were reduced to 58 by 1961, after the arrival in Canada of the antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine in 1954.»

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In the street plaque can be read:
AVENIDA PROFESSOR EGAS MONIZ
MÉDICO NEUROLOGISTA
1874-1955
PRÉMIO NOBEL DE 1949

Field of Accomplishment: Physiology/Medicine Year of Award: 1949 Primary Relevant Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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