An autopsy case of the schizophrenic 32 years after lobotomy

Abstract

An autopsy case is reported here of a 69-year-old patient with schizophrenia, who was known retrospectively to have had a prefrontal lobotomy 32 years previously. The patient was diagnosed as schizophrenic at the age of 24 and the lobotomy was undertaken 13 years later. The patient was recently found outside in a dehydrated condition and admitted to a general hospital, where he died of respiratory failure. Bilateral cystic lesions were found in the deep white matter of the frontal lobe. The cyst walls consisted of glial fibrous tissues, and severe demyelination with axonal destruction was diffusely observed in the white matter of the frontal lobe. In the thinner frontal cortex without arcuate fibers (U fibers) close to the cavities, cytoarchitectural abnormalities were observed. In the thalamic nuclei marked retrograde degeneration and astrocytic gliosis were observed. The detailed neuropathological findings of a lobotomized schizophrenic brain are reported here. It is proposed that one should be reminded of a lobotomized brain if bilateral cysts are found.