Neuropsychiatry of frontal lobe dysfunction in violent and criminal behaviour: a critical review.

OBJECTIVES: To establish the link between frontal lobe dysfunction and violent and criminal behaviour, based on a review of relevant literature. METHODS: Articles relating evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction with violence or crime were collected through a MEDLINE search using the keyword "frontal lobe" combined with the terms "aggression," "violence," "crime," "antisocial personality disorder," "psychopathy," "impulse control disorders", and "episodic dyscontrol." Reference lists were then searched for additional articles. RESULTS: High rates of neuropsychiatric abnormalities reported in persons with violent and criminal behaviour suggest an association between aggressive dyscontrol and brain injury, especially involving the frontal lobes. The studies reviewed support an association between frontal lobe dysfunction and increased aggressive and antisocial behaviour. Focal orbitofrontal injury is specifically associated with increased aggression. Deficits in frontal executive function may increase the likelihood of future aggression, but no study has reliably demonstrated a characteristic pattern of frontal network dysfunction predictive of violent crime. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically significant focal frontal lobe dysfunction is associated with aggressive dyscontrol, but the increased risk of violence seems less than is widely presumed. Evidence is strongest for an association between focal prefrontal damage and an impulsive subtype of aggressive behaviour.

Cerebral metabolic correlates as potential predictors of response to anterior cingulotomy for obsessive compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND: As interventions for severe, treatment-refractory obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), neurosurgical procedures are associated with only modest efficacy. The purpose of this study was to identify cerebral metabolic correlates as potential predictors of treatment response to anterior cingulotomy for OCD. METHODS: Clinical data were analyzed in the context of a retrospective design. Subjects were 11 patients who underwent stereotactic anterior cingulotomy for OCD. Symptom severity was measured using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) before and at approximately 6 months postoperative. Preoperative F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) data were available. Statistical parametric mapping methods were used to identify loci of significant correlation between preoperative regional cerebral metabolism and postoperative reduction in Y-BOCS scores. RESULTS: One locus within right posterior cingulate cortex was identified, where preoperative metabolism was significantly correlated with improvement in OCD symptom severity following cingulotomy. Specifically, higher preoperative rates of metabolism at that locus were associated with better postoperative outcome. CONCLUSIONS: A possible predictor of treatment response was identified for patients with OCD undergoing anterior cingulotomy. Further research, utilizing a prospective design, is indicated to determine the validity and reliability of this finding. If confirmed, an index for noninvasively predicting response to cingulotomy for OCD would be of great value.

Toward an understanding of violence: neurobehavioral aspects of unwarranted physical aggression: Aspen Neurobehavioral Conference consensus statement.

OBJECTIVE: Violence is a global problem that poses a major challenge to individuals and society. This document is a consensus statement on neurobehavioral aspects of violence as one approach to its understanding and control. BACKGROUND: This consensus group was convened under the auspices of the Aspen Neurobehavioral Conference, an annual consensus conference devoted to the understanding of issues related to mind and brain. The conference is supported by the Brain Injury Association and by individual philanthropic contributions. Participants were selected by conference organizers to represent leading opinion in neurology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, trauma surgery, nursing, evolutionary psychology, medical ethics, and law. METHODS: A literature review of the role of the brain in violent behavior was conducted and combined with expert opinion from the group. The major goal was to survey this field so as to identify major areas of interest that could be targeted for further research. Additional review was secured from the other attendees at the Aspen Neurobehavioral Conference. RESULTS: The group met in the spring of 1998 and 1999 for two 5-day sessions, between which individual assignments were carried out. The consensus statement was prepared after the second meeting, and agreement on the statement was reached by participants after final review of the document. CONCLUSIONS: Violence can result from brain dysfunction, although social and evolutionary factors also contribute. Study of the neurobehavioral aspects of violence, particularly frontal lobe dysfunction, altered serotonin metabolism, and the influence of heredity, promises to lead to a deeper understanding of the causes and solution of this urgent problem.

Deficits in visual cognition and attention following bilateral anterior cingulotomy.

A series of eight tests of visual cognitive abilities was used to examine pre- to post-operative performance changes in a patient receiving bilateral anterior cingulotomy. Compared with a set of eight matched control participants, post-operatively, the patient exhibited deficits in (a) the ability to sequence novel cognitive operations required to generate multipart images or rotate perceptual stimuli; (b) the ability to search for, select, and compare images of objects when the instructions did not specify precisely which objects should be visualized; and, (c) the ability to select a controlled and unpracticed response over an automatic one. Other imagery and cognitive tasks were not affected. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that anterior cingulate cortex is a component of an executive control system. One of the anterior cingulate's roles may be to monitor on-line processing and signal the motivational significance of current actions or cognitions.

Improvement in severe self-mutilation following limbic leucotomy: a series of 5 consecutive cases.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of neurosurgical intervention for self-mutilation behavior associated with severe, intractable psychiatric disorders remains undetermined. We report the effects of limbic leucotomy in 5 consecutive patients with severe self-mutilation behaviors. METHOD: After unsolicited referrals from their psychiatrists and careful consideration by the Massachusetts General Hospital Cingulotomy Assessment Committee (MGH-CAC), 5 patients were treated with limbic leucotomy. Their primary DSM-IV psychiatric diagnoses were either obsessive-compulsive disorder or schizoaffective disorder. Comorbid severe, treatment-refractory self-mutilation was an additional target symptom. Outcome was measured by an independent observer using the Clinical Global Improvement. Current Global Psychiatric-Social Status Rating, and DSM-IV Global Assessment of Functioning scales in addition to telephone interviews with patients, families, their psychiatrists, and treatment teams. The mean postoperative follow-up period was 31.5 months. RESULTS: All measures indicated sustained improvement in 4 of 5 patients. In particular, there was a substantial decrease in self-mutilation behaviors. Postoperative complications were transient in nature. and postoperative compared with preoperative neuropsychological assessments revealed no clinically significant deficits. CONCLUSION: In carefully selected patients as described in this report, limbic leucotomy may be an appropriate therapeutic consideration for self-mutilation associated with severe, intractable psychiatric disorders.

A magnetic resonance imaging study of regional cortical volumes following stereotactic anterior cingulotomy.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that orbitofrontal cortical volume would be reduced following anterior cingulotomy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Whole brain cortical parcellation was performed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from nine patients, before and 9 (+/-6) months following anterior cingulotomy. No significant volumetric reductions were found in the orbitofrontal cortex. Exploratory findings of reduced volume in ventral temporo-fusiform and posterior cingulate regions were consistent with chance differences, in the face of multiple comparisons. Therefore, though the circumscribed lesions of anterior cingulotomy have recently been associated with corresponding volumetric reductions in the caudate nucleus, no comparable volumetric reductions are evident in cortical territories. Taken together, these results are most consistent with a model of cingulo-striatal perturbation as a putative mechanism for the efficacy of this procedure. While limitations in sensitivity may have also contributed to these negative findings, the methods employed have previously proven sufficient to detect cortical volumetric abnormalities in OCD. The current results may reflect a relatively diffuse pattern of cortico-cortical connections involving the neurons at the site of cingulotomy lesions. Future functional neuroimaging studies are warranted to assess possible cortical or subcortical metabolic changes associated with anterior cingulotomy, as well as predictors of treatment response.

Volume reduction in the caudate nucleus following stereotactic placement of lesions in the anterior cingulate cortex in humans: a morphometric magnetic resonance imaging study.

OBJECT: The goal of this study was to test hypotheses regarding changes in volume in subcortical structures following anterior cingulotomy. METHODS: Morphometric magnetic resonance (MR) imaging methods were used to assess volume reductions in subcortical regions following anterior cingulate lesioning in nine patients. Magnetic resonance imaging data obtained before and 9 +/- 6 months following anterior cingulotomy were subjected to segmentation and subcortical parcellation. Significant volume reductions were predicted and found bilaterally within the caudate nucleus, but not in the amygdala, thalamus, lenticular nuclei, or hippocampus. Subcortical parcellation revealed that the volume reduction in the caudate nucleus was principally referrable to the body, rather than the head. Furthermore, the magnitude of volume reduction in the caudate body was significantly correlated with total lesion volume. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these findings implicate significant connectivity between a region of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) lesioned during cingulotomy and the caudate body. This unique data set complements published findings in nonhuman primates, and advances our knowledge regarding patterns of cortical-subcortical connectivity involving the ACC in humans. Moreover, these findings indicate changes distant from the site of anterior cingulotomy lesions that may play a role in the clinical response to this neurosurgical procedure.

Sensory alien hand syndrome: case report and review of the literature.

An 81 year old right handed woman developed a left alien hand syndrome characterised by involuntary movements of choking and hitting the face, neck, and shoulder. The patient showed multiple disorders of primary sensation, sensory processing, hemispatial attention, and visual association, as well as a combination of sensory, optic, and cerebellar ataxia (triple ataxia) of the left arm in the absence of motor neglect or hemiparesis. Imaging studies disclosed subacute infarction in the right thalamus, hippocampus, inferior temporal lobes, splenium of corpus callosum, and occipital lobe due to right posterior cerebral artery occlusion. This rare syndrome should be considered as a "sensory" or "posterior" form of the alien hand syndrome, to be distinguished from the "motor" or "anterior" form described more commonly.

Magnetic resonance image-guided stereotactic cingulotomy for intractable psychiatric disease.

We describe the modern operative technique of magnetic resonance (MR) image-guided stereotactic cingulotomy and discuss the indications, results, and complications of this procedure. A retrospective analysis of psychiatric outcome was performed for 34 patients with intractable major affective disorder and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder who underwent MR image-guided stereotactic cingulotomy since 1991. Fourteen patients underwent multiple cingulotomies (50 total procedures). Overall, 38% of the patients were classified as responders, 23% as possible responders, and 38% as nonresponders. Of the patients who did not respond to initial cingulotomies and who underwent multiple cingulotomies, 36% became responders, 36% possible responders, and 28% nonresponders. There were no deaths or long-term side effects related to the procedure. The therapeutic results of MR image-guided stereotactic cingulotomy are similar to the results of earlier methods of cingulotomy, and the use of MR imaging offers substantial technical advantages. This procedure also compares favorably with other neurosurgical procedures performed for intractable psychiatric disease with a low rate of undesired side effects. Cingulotomy is safe and well tolerated, with over one-third of the patients demonstrating significant improvement; however, prospective long-term follow-up studies are needed to further define the role of surgery in treating intractable psychiatric disease.

Right sided hemispatial neglect and bilateral cerebral lesions.

This study compared the frequency with which unilateral and bilateral cerebral disease gives rise to right sided visual hemispatial inattention. A retrospective survey identified brain injured patients for whom target omissions on visual target cancellation tasks significantly exceeded control values. Subjects consisted of 40 right handed patients referred for clinical evaluation or research study of hemispatial inattention. Right sided visual hemispatial inattention occurred with greater frequency and severity in patients with bilateral lesions than in patients with unilateral left sided or right sided lesions. All eight patients with bilateral lesions manifested right sided hemispatial inattention and failed to detect more targets overall than patients in the other two groups. Of the 13 patients with left sided lesion, seven ignored more targets on the right and six ignored more targets on the left. All but one of the 19 patients with right sided lesions ignored more targets on the left. The association of severe right sided visual hemispatial inattention with bilateral cerebral disease extends previous findings and showed that, in this sample, the most common setting for right sided hemispatial neglect occurred in patients with bilateral cerebral lesions.

Diagnostic testing and dementia.

The prevalence of dementia is expected to increase markedly as our population ages. Although only a minority of cases currently are found to have treatable causes, the personal and financial costs of misdiagnosis are great. Furthermore, progress in developing effective therapy hinges on accurate diagnosis. This article reviews the current state of diagnostic testing in the diagnosis of dementia.

Right hemisphere learning disability associated with left hemisphere dysfunction: anomalous dominance and development.

Two patients are described with the social emotional processing disorder, a developmental syndrome usually ascribed to right hemisphere dysfunction. In these two patients however, neurological examinations, EEG, and neuroimaging studies were all consistent with left hemisphere dysfunction. Both patients were left handed and had findings suggestive of anomalous dominance for language. It is proposed that early left hemisphere injury may have resulted in functional reorganisation that allowed sparing of language and motor skills but interfered with the development of functions that the right hemisphere normally subserves.

Neuropsychological patterns and language deficits in 20 consecutive cases of autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer's disease.

A retrospective chart review of clinical symptoms was done for 20 consecutive patients in whom postmortem examination had revealed senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in a distribution consistent with Alzheimer's disease. All patients had met clinical diagnostic criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease. On initial examination, 1 to 14 years beyond putative onset of the dementia, all patients displayed at least some memory impairment. In 16 patients, disturbances of attention or recent memory were among the most salient features. In two patients, language disturbances, and in two others, visuospatial deficits, were more prominent than difficulties with memory and attention. On initial examination, 17 of the 20 patients displayed word-finding difficulties, characteristically in the context of a fluent, anomic aphasia. All of the 12 reexamined patients demonstrated progressive, although variable, deterioration. In general, the initial salient deficit remained salient during much of the disease course. Language comprehension was spared in the earlier stages but eventually deteriorated. Severe deficits emerged in all major cognitive domains as the disease reached the terminal stages. Nonfluent aphasias (eg, Broca's aphasia) were not observed even in the advanced stages of the disease.