Incontinence associated with bilateral lesions of putamen
F. W. Klutzow, D. F. Gleason, H. K. Lancaster and K. B. Murray
Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester (NY) School of Medicine and Dentistry.
From 1238 postmortem brain examinations, 44 subject cases with bilateral
putamen lesions and 44 controls without bilateral putamen lesions were
chosen and compared for the presence and severity of incontinence. The
lesions were divided into three grades and the incontinence into five
degrees of severity. Final results revealed that 39 of 44 subject cases had
some degree of fecal incontinence compared with 12 of 44 controls. The
subject cases included 14 with degree 4 incontinence while the controls had
none. Forty-three of 44 subject cases exhibited urinary incontinence
compared with 25 of 44 controls with the degree again being more severe in
the subject cases. Using the chi 2 test, the probability that these
differences were due to chance is minimal. Therefore, bilateral putamen
involvement appears to be a significant factor in the occurrence of
incontinence, and further study of this association is indicated.