| This
chapter
provides
a
short
account
of
the
work
of
Professor
Corsellis
who
began
to
collect
brains
at
Runwell
Hospital
in
1950.
The
Corsellis
(or
Runwell)
collection
is
now
held
by
the
West
London
Mental
Health
NHS
Trust.
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| The
Corsellis
brain
collection
was
the
first
in
this
country.
It
began
as
an
accumulation
of
brains
that
had
all
been
referred
for
diagnostic
reasons.
Although
every
brain
was
well
documented
there
is
uncertainty
about
the
extent
to
which
brains
from
Coroner's
post
mortems
were
collected
in
the
early
years,
and
of
any
agreements
with
Coroners.
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| Purpose
of
the
Corsellis
(or
Runwell
Hospital)
collection |
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| In
1950
Dr
Corsellis
was
Consultant
Pathologist
at
Runwell
Hospital
in
Essex.
Runwell
was
a
long-stay
mental
hospital
with
a
large
population
of
institutionalised
patients
with
neuropsychiatric
conditions.
At
that
time
there
was
no
effective
treatment
for
many
of
these
conditions.
Very
little
was
known
about
the
causes
of
mental
diseases.
Many
patients
had
been
in
hospital
for
years.
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| When
a
patient
in
Runwell
Hospital
died,
a
post
mortem
was
almost
always
carried
out
for
diagnostic
reasons.
The
original
brains
in
the
collection
were
examined
by
Dr Corsellis
as
an
integral
part
of
the
post
mortem.
Instead
of
disposing
of
the
brains
after
he
had
examined
them,
Dr
Corsellis
retained
those
that
were
of
diagnostic
interest.
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| No
brains
in
the
collection
were
obtained
solely
for
research.
To
be
of
any
value,
the
medical
history
of
the
deceased
was
always
obtained
and
each
brain
was
fully
examined
histologically.
This
applied
irrespective
of
whether
the
brain
was
from
a
hospital
or
Coroner's
post
mortem.
Brains
showing
features
of
significance
were
retained.
'Control'
brains
were
also
collected
when
neither
the
patient's
history
nor
the
post
mortem
findings
indicated
any
neuro-psychiatric
disease.
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| From
diagnostic
collection
to
research
archive
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| As
early
as
1953,
the
Medical
Research
Council
awarded
Dr
Corsellis
a
grant
for
his
research
on
the
collection.
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| Later,
as
the
number
of
brains
increased,
the
value
of
the
collection
for
further
research
and
teaching
was
recognised.
In
this
way
an
accumulation
of
brains
referred
for
diagnosis
evolved
over
the
following
decades
to
become
an
invaluable
research
archive.
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| A
paper
written
in
1994
summarises
the
early
history
of
the
collection:
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| 'Brain
collection
began
slowly;
for
several
years
almost
all
specimens
were
from
Runwell
patients,
although
a
few
neurological
cases
were
received
from
nearby
Southend
General
Hospital.
Later
Dr
Corsellis'
research
interest
in
epilepsy
brought
referral
brains
from
Epileptic
Colonies
and
over
three
hundred
epilepsy
surgery
specimens
from
the
Maudsley
Hospital.
By
the
mid
1960s
the
workload
increased
as
the
department
flourished;
neuropathological
support
was
provided
for
the
neurosurgical
unit
from
Oldchurch
Hospital.
From
1969
Runwell
also
provided
a
post
mortem
service
for
South
Ockenden
Subnormality
Hospital.
Brains
from
patients
with
all
types
of
mental
deficiency
were
received
until
that
Unit
closed
in
1985.
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| A
long-term
collaboration
with
Dr
Ted
Bird
at
Cambridge
beginning
in
the
early
1970s
resulted
in
the
world's
largest
collection
of
Huntington's
brains…
Large
numbers
of
normal
control
brains,
including
over
500
nonagenarian
and
more
than
20
centenarian
specimens,
were
collected
for
investigations
of
normal
human
ageing'.
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| Dr
Corsellis'
skills
as
a
neuropathologist
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| Dr
Corsellis
devoted
his
life
work
to
research
on
the
collection.
As
the
importance
of
his
research
was
recognised
so
his
reputation
as
a
neuropathologist
grew.
The
result
was
that
an
increasing
number
of
brains
were
referred
to
him
for
his
expert
opinion.
To
begin
with,
the
referrals
came
mainly
from
the
South
East
but
later
from
all
parts
of
the
country.
Brains
that
exhibited
unusual
features
were
referred
for
his
opinion.
Often
these,
with
the
agreement
of
the
referring
doctor,
were
added
to
the
collection.
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| Dr
Corsellis'
then
unique
experience
was
recognised
by
his
appointment
as
Professor
of
Neuropathology
at
the
Institute
of
Psychiatry
and
his
reputation
as
an
international
authority
on
neuropathology
became
widely
recognised.
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| When
Professor
Corsellis
retired
from
his
academic
post
at
the
Institute,
he
continued
to
develop
the
collection
and
his
research
based
on
it.
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| The
collection
under
Dr
Clive
Bruton
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| After
Professor
Corsellis
died
in
1994,
the
collection
continued
under
the
leadership
of
his
colleague,
Dr
Clive
Bruton,
who
had
joined
the
research
team
in
1968.
Under
Dr Bruton's
influence
the
collection
diversified,
collecting
brains
of
cases
of
Parkinson's
disease,
depression,
and
Creutzfeldt
Jacob
disease.
When
Dr Bruton
died
in
1996
the
collection
was
closed.
It
was
subsequently
transferred
to
the
West
London
Mental
Health
NHS
Trust
in
1997.
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The
significance
of
the
Corsellis
collection
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| Other
brain
collections
and
banks
were
set
up
following
the
basic
pattern
pioneered
by
Professor
Corsellis
in
the
Runwell
collection.
Some
banks
are
condition-specific,
others
collect
brains
from
patients
with
many
different
neuropsychiatric
diseases.
Some
collect
control
brains
from
those
who
have
died
without
any
of
these
disorders.
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| Some
banks
act
as
repositories
from
which
established
research
teams
can
request
brain
samples
of
the
conditions
they
are
investigating.
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| Professor
Corsellis
was
both
a
pioneer
and
a
successful
researcher.
To
give
one
example,
his
work
identified
the
damage
to
the
brains
of
boxers
from
repeated
blows
to
the
head.
This
finding
has
had
important
consequences
for
the
safety
of
both
professional
and
amateur
boxing.
In
amateur
boxing
head
protection
is
now
obligatory
and
the
length
of
professional
fights
has
been
limited.
This
was
just
one
of
the
practical
benefits
from
Professor
Corsellis'
research.
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| Professor
Corsellis'
most
enduring
contribution
was
that
he
drew
attention
to
the
knowledge
that
can
be
acquired
through
painstaking
investigation
of
the
post
mortem
brain.
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|
Historical
features
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| In
this
short
description
of
the
origins
of
the
Corsellis
collection,
two
points
must
be
emphasised:
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- the
collection
started
11
years
before
the
Human
Tissue
Act
(1961),
and
the
procedures
for
collecting
brains
50
years
ago
were
entirely
consistent
with
medical
and
legal
requirements
of
that
time;
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- discoveries
of
major
clinical
importance
have
only
been
possible
through
research
based
on
the
number
and
diversity
of
the
Corsellis
collection.
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| The
importance
and
value
of
brain
archives
and
brain
collections
is
discussed
in
Chapter
46.
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|
Summary
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| |
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| The
first
brain
collection
in
England
was
started
in
1950
by
Professor
Corsellis
in
the
pathology
department
of
a
long
stay
mental
hospital.
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| The
bank
began
as
an
accumulation
of
brains
referred
for
diagnosis
but
the
potential
value
for
research
was
soon
realised.
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| Professor
Corsellis
pioneered
the
concept
of
research
based
on
brain
archives
and
collections.
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| Other
brain
banks
have
since
been
set
up
and
brain
bank
archives
have
become
an
essential
research
resource.
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