Total and regional brain volume reductions due to the Syndrome of Irreversible Lithium-Effectuated Neurotoxicity (SILENT): a voxel-based morphometric study.

摘要

Lithium, a widely used agent for bipolar disorder, requires caution regarding intoxication, because of the narrow margin between therapeutic and toxic serum concentrations (Kores and Lader, 1997). Although the several adverse neurological symptoms associated with lithium intoxication, such as tremor, ataxia, dysarthria, seizures, encephalopathy, and coma, are usually reversible with the drug's reduction or discontinuation, some cases in which the neurological deficits persisted, particularly cerebellar symptoms, have been reported, which are recognized as Syndrome of Irreversible Lithium-Effectuated Neurotoxicity (SILENT) (Adityanjee et al., 2005).