Neuropsychological outcome following unilateral stereotactic pallidotomy in intractable Parkinson's disease

Neuropsychological functioning was examined at baseline and 2- to 3-month f ollow-up in 40 subjects with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) who underwen t unilateral posteroventral pallidotomy. Most subjects demonstrated improve d verbal learning, visual memory, confrontation naming, and figural fluency at follow-up. Right pallidotomy was associated with decreased cognitive fl exibility and increased verbal fluency, whereas Left pallidotomy uniquely r esulted in a decline in verbal fluency. Significant motor improvement was d emonstrated in both groups. Pallidotomy appears to be an effective treatmen t for advanced PD, providing a significant improvement in motor functioning , while resulting in few deleterious neurocognitive changes in most cases. (C) 2000 Academic Press.