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Resistant Bipolar Affective Disorder Treated by Stereotactic Subcaudate Tractotomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. Poynton ,
P. K. Bridges  and
J. R. Bartlett
A. Poynton
Affiliation:
United Medical and Dental Schools, Guy's Hospital and the Geoffrey Knight Unit for Affective Disorders
P. K. Bridges*
Affiliation:
United Medical and Dental Schools, Guy's Hospital and the Geoffrey Knight Unit for Affective Disorders
J. R. Bartlett
Affiliation:
Regional Neurosurgical Centre and the Geoffrey Knight Unit for Affective Disorders, Brook General Hospital
*
∗United Medical and Dental Schools, Guy's Hospital SEI 9RT and the Geoffrey Knight Unit for Affective Disorders, Brook General Hospital, London SEI8 4LW
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Abstract

The results of stereotactic subcaudate tractotomy in nine patients with resistant bipolar affective disorder are presented in the form of a single case study with a summary of the other eight cases. Follow-up studies at 2–4 years showed substantial improvement in five patients and amelioration of symptoms in a further four patients, with a tendency for a greater improvement in the manic than in the depressive episodes. These preliminary results suggest that there is a place for this operation in the management of severe bipolar affective disorders which are not responding to any other treatment, although decisive recovery occurs less often than with unipolar depression.

Type
Annotation
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 3 , March 1988 , pp. 354 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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