Editing Split-brain (section)

=== Patient WJ ===

Patient WJ was the first patient to undergo a full corpus callosotomy in 1962, after experiencing fifteen years of convulsions resulting from [[grand mal seizure]]s. He was a World War II paratrooper who was injured at 30 years old during a bombing raid jump over the Netherlands, and again in a prison camp following his first injury. After returning home, he began to suffer from blackouts in which he would not remember what he was doing or where, and how or when he got there. At age 37, he suffered his first generalized [[convulsion]]. One of his worst episodes occurred in 1953, when he suffered a series of convulsions lasting for many days. During these convulsions, his left side would go numb and he would recover quickly, but after the series of convulsions, he never regained complete feeling on his left side.<ref name = Eldridge>Eldridge, A. D. (n.d.). Discovering the unique individuals behind split-brain patient anonymity. Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC. Retrieved from http://people.uncw.edu/puente/405/PDFpapers/Split-brain%20Patients.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102136/http://people.uncw.edu/puente/405/PDFpapers/Split-brain%20Patients.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }}</ref>

Before his surgery, both hemispheres functioned and interacted normally, his sensory and motor functions were normal aside from slight [[hypoesthesia]], and he could correctly identify and understand visual stimuli presented to both sides of his visual field. During his surgery in 1962, his surgeons determined that no [[massa intermedia]] had developed, and he had undergone [[atrophy]] in the part of the right frontal lobe exposed during the procedure. His operation was a success, in that it led to decreases in the frequency and intensity of his seizures.<ref name = Eldridge />