HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Green, J. Articles by DeLong, M. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Green, J. Articles by DeLong, M. R. Related Collections All Neuropsychology/Behavior Surgery/Stimulation Parkinson's disease with dementia

Neuropsychological and psychiatric sequelae of pallidotomy for PD

Clinical trial findings

From the Departments of Neurology (Drs. Green, Vitek, Evatt, Freeman, and DeLong, and S. Triche and B. Sirockman), Psychiatry (Dr. McDonald) and Neurosurgery (Dr. Bakay), Emory University School of Medicine, and Department of Biostatistics (Drs. Haber and Barnhart, and N. Wahlay), Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Joanne Green, Emory University, Department of Neurology, Wesley Woods Center, 1841 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30329; e-mail: jgreen{at}emory.edu

Objective: To evaluate the neuropsychological and psychiatric sequelae of unilateral posterior pallidotomy for treatment of PD.

Methods: Patients with idiopathic PD completed baseline and 3- and 6-month assessments after random assignment to an immediate surgery (n = 17) or medical management (n = 16) group.

Results: Compared with the medical management group, the immediate surgery group with single lesions centered on the posterior internal pallidum showed superior naming and response inhibition, better verbal recall at 6 months, but greater distractibility, a tendency toward lower phonemic fluency, and a transient (3 months’ only) semantic fluency deficit. The group with left lesions had more neuropsychological deficits than the group with right lesions or the medical management group, although these occurred mainly at 3 (but not 6) months. At 6 months, the patients with left lesions showed better verbal memory retention than the patients with right lesions. On most measures, the pattern of individual clinical change did not differ as a function of surgery or lesion laterality, with the exception of a higher frequency of decline in phonemic fluency in the patients with left lesions at 6 months. Although psychiatric status did not change overall, a history of depression tended to increase the risk of a depressive episode following surgery.

Conclusions: Well-targeted, uncomplicated, unilateral pallidotomy does not produce overall neuropsychological or psychiatric change, although there are subtle changes on specific measures sensitive to frontal lobe function.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K Ridler, J Suckling, N. Higgins, P. de Vries, C. Stephenson, P. Bolton, and E. Bullmore Neuroanatomical Correlates of Memory Deficits in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Cereb Cortex, February 1, 2007; 17(2): 261 - 271. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. E. Belforte and J. H. Pazo Striatal Inhibition of Nociceptive Responses Evoked in Trigeminal Sensory Neurons by Tooth Pulp Stimulation J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2005; 93(3): 1730 - 1741. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]