J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1989; 1:60-66
Copyright © 1989 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Psychiatric presentations of intracranial cysts
R Kohn, RB Lilly, MS Sokol and PF Malloy
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island 02906.
Eight patients with intracranial cysts presenting with primary psychiatric
diagnoses were studied. The cysts were visible on computed tomography (CT)
and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and they produced neurologic,
electroencephalographic (EEG), and neuropsychologic abnormalities.
Descriptions of psychiatric manifestations associated with intracranial
cysts are rare, and their potential neuropsychiatric significance has been
minimized. This study demonstrates that intracranial cysts can cause
neuropsychiatric symptoms, that surgical intervention may resolve the
psychiatric manifestations in selected cases, and, in cases not warranting
surgery, that psychopharmacological therapy to treat the behavioral
manifestations is indicated. These cases mandate consideration of
intracranial cysts in the diagnostic and therapeutic formulation of
atypical neuropsychiatric disorders.
