Human brain parts left over from surgery boost research (Article)

[Snowdrop]

Don't know why this wasn't thought of before now.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51363582

From the article:

Dr Lein and his colleagues at the Allen Institute in Seattle set up the scheme with local neurosurgeons to study brain tissue just hours after surgery - with the consent of the patient.

It functions as if it is still inside the brain for up to 48 hours after it has been removed.

 

[Arnie Pye]

I read the article. I'm curious about which brain operations end up with "spare" brain tissue.

If I had had to guess what was in the hands of the person in the photo I would have guessed it was cheese.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

Don't know why this wasn't thought of before now.

It was.I think this is fake news again.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

I'm curious about which brain operations end up with "spare" brain tissue.

Surgery for epilepsy can involve removing small chunks of brain tissue. It depends critically on where the focus is because you cannot afford to take chunks out of the areas that serve specific parts of the body or sensations (motor cortex or visual cortex for instance). Frontal lobes and some temporal or parietal areas may be OK. But anyone missing the bit of cheese in the photo is likely to be in serious trouble. I presume that is a post mortem specimen.

 

[Arnie Pye]

I presume that is a post mortem specimen.

Thanks, I never thought of that.

 

[Snowdrop]

Yes the top photo definitely looks like post mortem. But science news articles seem to not mind photos that bear little relation to the subject.

So, I certainly hope that people are not donating (without knowing) extra little bits of themselves that are still viable. If this is more fake news then this is a bigger issue than I imagined.