J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1992; 4:415-421
Copyright © 1992 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Neurologic outcome of patients with dorsolateral prefrontal leukotomy
BP Karp, DM Juliano, KF Berman and DR Weinberger
Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Few controlled studies of neurologic function in frontal leukotomy patients
have been done. The authors compared neurologic examinations of patients
who had bilateral leukotomies with those of psychiatric control subjects
matched for age, diagnosis, and duration of illness. Cranial nerve
dysfunction, abnormal involuntary movements, and primitive reflexes were
common. No significant differences between the two patient groups were
found. The leukotomized patients were less irritable than control subjects
and had statistically higher seizure and death rates. Neurologic
abnormalities are, thus, common in elderly chronic psychiatric patients.
Surprisingly, patients with bilateral prefrontal leukotomy do not differ
from well-matched psychiatric controls on most clinical tests of neurologic
function.
