A surgical or diagnostic procedure in which a needle is inserted through the skull to access the brain or cerebrospinal fluid.
From cranio- + puncture (Latin pungere, to prick). An older medical technique, largely replaced by modern imaging and less invasive methods.
Craniopuncture was a desperate measure in pre-modern medicine—doctors would literally drill into skulls trying to relieve pressure, and sometimes it actually worked, though by accident more than design.
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