Criminal behaviour after orbitofrontal lesion. Study of two cases

Abstract

Introduction. Orbitofrontal lesions may produce abnormal social conduct, making impossible to live independently and even producing antisocial behaviour.

Clinical cases. Two young people with orbitofrontal lesion due to THI showed as chronic symptoms (18 months and seven years after injury) comportmental changes similar to antisocial personality disease, including criminal actions. Neuropsychologically the first case showed memory, fluency and secuentiation impairment. The second patient’ performance was normal.

Conclusions. Prefrontal lesion may impair selfregulation, producing syndromes that prevent normal every-day life but are no much relevant in neurological and neuropsychological assessments. Orbitofrontal cortex plays an important role in social cognition which is the function that allows complex social behaviour. Because of the complexity of this function, syntoms can worse with the passage of time, thus a long follow-up of these patients is required.