Acute Brain Syndrome Associated with Lithium Therapy
PETER L. AGULNIK M.D., D.P.M.1,
ALBERTO DIMASCIO PH.D.2, , and
PATRICIA MOORE R.N.3
1 Senior Registrar, Littlemore Hospital, Oxford, England
2 Director, Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory, Boston State Hospital, 591 Morton St., Boston, Mass. 02124 and Principal Investigator, NIMH-VA Collaborative Study of Lithium Treatment for the Affective Disorders, Boston State Hospital
3 Project Nurse, NIMH-VA Collaborative Study of Lithium Treatment for the Affective Disorders, Boston State Hospital
Three patients who were treated with lithium displayed symptoms resembling those of organic brain syndrome when their blood lithium levels were low. All patients' lithium levels were slow to rise. When lithium was stopped, the patients' blood levels began to rise and then fell, at which time their symptoms remitted. The authors postulate that this lithium toxicity may possibly be due to tissue lithium levels.
