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. 1993 Sep;56(9):1016–1019. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.56.9.1016

The metabolic effects of limbic leucotomy in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.

G V Sawle 1, A J Lees 1, N F Hymas 1, D J Brooks 1, R S Frackowiak 1
PMCID: PMC489741  PMID: 8410025

Abstract

Regional cerebral oxygen metabolism was measured before and after limbic leucotomy in a patient with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder, and obsessional slowness. The preoperative scan showed hypermetabolism in the caudate nuclei, which normalised after operation. It is proposed that the beneficial effects of this operation on both tics and obsessive compulsive behaviour are mediated by disruption of abnormal neural activity in basal ganglia-thalamocortical loops.

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Selected References

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