A PREFRONTAL lobotomy program was initiated at Binghamton State Hospital in the spring of 1946. We report the results obtained in 122 cases of lobotomy performed by the Freeman-Watts standard method up to the end of 1950. The patients reported have been observed from five years to six months since operation. The accompanying chart shows the rapid yearly increase in the number of lobotomies performed in this institution, which operation has now become our most important tool in the treatment of chronic mental illness.
MATERIAL
The 122 patients reported all had chronic mental disorders. With a few exceptions, all had been unsuccessfully treated with one or several of the accepted shock methods, and prior to the introduction of lobotomy their prognoses were considered hopeless. As in every state hospital series, the major portion of the patients represented the schizophrenic group, 106 of the 122 being in that group. The remaining