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.