An orbitoclast was a surgical instrument used for performing transorbital lobotomies. Because actual ice picks were used in initial experimentation and because of continued close resemblance to ice pick shafts, the procedure was dubbed "ice pick lobotomy".

Freeman first practiced on cadavers using an ice pick, which is how his method came to be known as the "ice pick lobotomy." When he began performing the transorbital lobotomy on patients, he used a stronger version of a leucotome that resembled an ice pick, called an orbitoclast.

May 8, 2020 · The Orbitoclast, a lobotomy tool, was hammered into the upper part of the eye socket about seven cm into the brain and wiggled around to destroy brain tissue. It was an imprecise tool for a gruesome procedure that caused horrible suffering and death.

Jun 13, 2019 · An 'ice pick' or orbitoclast was inserted above the patient’s eyeball and through the boney orbital ridge to sever connections to and from the prefrontal cortex.

His new procedure allowed him to perform lobotomies without the use of anesthesia, because he used electroconvulsive therapy to induce seizure: " [Freeman] used a mallet to tap an orbitoclast (a slender rod shaped like an icepick) through the orbital roof.

This instrument was called an orbitoclast. The first transorbital lobotomy was performed in 1946, on a housewife named Sallie Ellen Ionesco. Her family considered it hugely successful. After that, Dr. Freeman was a man on a mission.

When Freeman started to perform the procedure on his patients, a stronger leucotome similar to an ice pick was used. This tool was called an orbitoclast. Transorbital lobotomy only took approximately 10 minutes or less.

The procedure was introduced in 1935 and popularized in the United States by Walter J. Freeman in the 1940s. The doctor inserted the instrument into the frontal lobe of the brain to destroy its connection with other regions. Henry A. Ator (1906-1995), the donor of this orbitoclast, was a machinist who manufactured Watts-Freeman lobotomy ...

Oct 13, 2021 · The technique involved using an instrument called an orbitoclast — a long, slender instrument modeled after an ice pick — which the physician would insert through the patient's eye socket ...

Two orbitoclasts invented by Dr. Walter Freeman and used for transorbital lobotomy. Circa 1950s. 7.7" L; weight: 1.2 oz.