Experiences in psycho-surgery in The Netherlands

The authors report on their experiences in 54 cases operated upon for various psychiatric diseases including compulsive neurosis, depression, anxiety, tension and in some of this group also automutilation; intractable temporal lobe epilepsy and aggressive behaviour; aggressive behaviour and minor epileptic problems; severe mental retardation, restlessness, automultilation and in some of this group also aggression. Operative procedures have been fronto-basal lesions according to Knight and Bridges, as well as lesions in the cingulum, the paracingular white matter, the anterior part of the radiation of the corpus callosum and the basal frontal region, using the technique of Crow. Amygdalotomy and thalamotomy was performed for epilepsy, aggression and automutilation in the mentally retarded patients. Because of the small number of patients and the variety of different diseases and techniques no statistically valid analysis of the results is possible.