leucotomy

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leucotomy (loo-kot-ŏmi) n. the surgical operation of interrupting the pathways of white nerve fibres within the brain: it involves stereotaxy to make selective lesions in small areas of the brain. The operation is occasionally used for intractable pain, severe depression, obsessional neurosis, and chronic anxiety. prefrontal l. (lobotomy) the original form of the operation, which involved cutting through the nerve fibres connecting the frontal lobe with the thalamus and the association fibres of the frontal lobe; it has now been abandoned.