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Long-Term Outcome of Leucotomy On Behaviour of People With Schizophrenia

Department of Psychology, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia, edward.helmes{at}jcu.edu.au

Varadaraj R. Velamoor

Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

Background: Prefrontal leucotomy was widely used from the late 1930s to early 1950s as a treatment for disorders involving obsessive agitation. Comparatively few studies of the enduring behavioural effects of such surgery exist, while data on mortality and cognition have been better reported.

Aims: We contrast the psychosocial functioning of older individuals with schizophrenia who had undergone prefrontal leucotomy with two groups of their peers who had not undergone such surgery.

Method: A total of 87 individuals (one female) with a mean age of 70.3 years (SD = 6.84) were evaluated twice 25 months apart using a standardized rating scale. Twenty of the residents, all with schizophrenia, had undergone prefrontal leucotomy approximately 45 years previously. All diagnoses of schizophrenia were confirmed by multiple psychiatrists using DSM-III criteria at the time of the ratings, which were completed by two care staff who knew the residents well.

Results: Repeated measures comparisons with schizophrenia and non-schizophrenia patient groups showed no significant differences between the leucotomy and unoperated comparison groups on four of the five Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Subjects (MOSES) scales.

Conclusions: These results are consistent with reports of compromised function among individuals who had undergone leucotomy and contrast with some reports of positive changes in behaviour.

Key Words: lobotomy • leucotomy • psychosurgery • chronic schizophrenia • rating scale

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 55, No. 1, 64-70 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0020764008091681


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