The psychiatrist's management of patients with undiagnosed brain neoplasm

Of 679 patients with brain neoplasms admitted to either a medical school center or a community hospital during a nine-year period, 24 had been examined by a psychiatrist before definitive diagnosis of brain neoplasm. These 24 cases were studied to evaluate the role of the psychiatrist in the management of the patients before the neoplasm was diagnosed. Such cases pose many subtle problems for psychiatrists. However, ten of the 24 patients either were sent for definitive tests by the psychiatrist with the tentative diagnosis of brain neoplasm or were triaged to other consultants to pursue that diagnosis.