

The same is likely true of at lest on other study called "The Use of Deep Temporal Leads in the Study of Psychomotor Epilepsy," which involved inserting metal probes into patients' brains. This book study unit plan includes guided notes and an argumentative essay assignment for part of the book 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot. Bases on the number of patients listed in the pneumoencephalography studyand the years it was conducted, Lurz told me later, it most likely involved every epileptic child in the hospital including Elsie. Perfect for a high school biology, anatomy, or scientific research course - HeLa cells have changed medical history. "There is no evidence that the scientists who did research on patients at Crownsville got consent from either the patients of their parents. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Study Guide 2. Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Rebecca Skloots The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Because pneumoencephalography could cause permanent brain damage and paralysis, it was abandoned in the 1970s. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Study Guide. the side effects-crippling headaches, dizziness, seizures, vomiting-lasted until the body naturally refilled the skull with spinal fluid, which usually took two to three months.

Pneumoencephalography involved drilling holes into the skulls of research subjects, draining the fluid surrounding their brains, and pumping air or helium into the skull in place of the fluid to allow crisp X-rays of the brain through the skull. Lacks, a tobacco farmer from Virginia, died in 1951 from cervical cancer, but not before her cells were harvested without her knowledge or consent for scientific and medical use. That fluid protects the brain from damage, but makes it very difficult to X-ray, since images taken through fluid are cloudy. “I later learned that while Elsie was at Crownsville, scientists often conducted research on patients there without consent, including one study titled "Pneumoencephalographic and skull X-ray studies in 100 epileptics." Pneumoencephalography was a technique developed in 1919 for taking images of the brain, which floats in a sea of liquid.
