Altered Behavior Associated with Damage to the Ventromedial Hypothalamus: a Distinctive Syndrome

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Flynn, Frederick G.^{; ; ;} | Cummings, Jeffrey L.^; | Tomiyasu, Uwamie

Affiliations: Neurobehavior Unit, West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center | Laboratory Service (Neuropathology), West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center | Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, 90073 | U.S. Army AMEDD Student Detachment, Academy of Health Sciences, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas

Note: [] The views of the authors are their own and do not purport to reflect the position of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.

Abstract: An adult manifested a tetrad of neurobehavioral findings consisting of episodic rage, emotional lability, hyperphagia with obesity, and memory impairment with intellectual decline following surgical removal of a craniopharyngioma. Post-mortem investigation of the topography of the lesion as well as review of previously reported cases suggest that this tetrad represents a specific neurobehavioral syndrome referable to damage to the ventromedial hypothalamus.

DOI: 10.3233/BEN-1988-1107

Journal: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 49-58, 1988