PSYCHIATRIC ASPECTS OF PORENCEPHALY
E. LENNARD BERNSTEIN M. D.1
1 The Department of Psychiatry and Mental Hygiene, Yale University School of Medicine.
Seven cases of porencephaly are presented from a psychiatric point of view. Patients with lesions in the frontal lobes seemed to present a slightly different picture from that of patients with lesions in other parts of the brain. The group, however, did not present any features which are thought to be specific for this type of epileptic patient, except perhaps a rather consistently occurring inability to concentrate. It is felt that the diagnosis of porencephaly should not be ruled out in the case of any epileptic until even slight neurological irregularities have been investigated. Porencephalics may exhibit abnormalities of behavior in many spheres for years before any convulsive phenomena occur. Patients with porencephaly should receive social and psychiatric as well as medical and surgical treatment.
