Doctors have been using the same method of replacing skull fragments after brain surgery since the 1890s. That means, 120 years of unchanged strategies.

The new method is pretty simply. If a portion of the skull needed to be removed due to trauma, infection, a tumor, or stroke, the surgeon would peel back five layers of the scalp and replace them right onto the surface of the brain.

After the swelling goes down in a couple of months, they would peel the skin off the brain and replace the bone. Peeling skin directly off the brain may lead to some undesirable results, but this method actually avoids the trouble by initially only peeling back three of the five layers of the scalp.

"Everyone has been taught for 120 years to completely peel up the scalp," study leader Chad R. Gordon said in a press release. "But by not disturbing the brain, we get much better outcomes. This is a safer, simpler way to do a very complex surgery."

Can't believe it took 120 years for a change though!

[Johns Hopkins via Futurity Image via Wikipedia]