Nine patients of mental disorders treated by orbito-ventromedial undercutting, comprising 5 cases of schizophrenia, 2 cases of epilepsy with explosive behavior, a case of involutional melancholia and a case of obssesive-compulsive neurosis, were studied polygraphically before and after the operation. Four cases without operative treatment, comprising 2 cases of normal adults, a case of schizophrenia and a case of neurosis, were studied polygraphically twice in each case as controls.
The simultaneous polygraphic recordings were performed on the following elements: electroencepalogram, electrooculogram, respiration curve, electrocardiogram and galvanic skin reflex during sleep through a whole night. In all of the nine patients treated by the operation, these recordings were performed before and at the first and at the fourth weeks after the operation. In five patients further recordings were done around the sixth month. From the polygraphic recordings the physiological sleep pattern diagrams were prepared.
1) The changes in the physiological factors after the operation were summarized as follows:
In almost all cases, the amount of sleep was prolonged after the operation. The prolongation was both absolute, i. e. the actual duration of sleep being increased, and relative, i. e. the ratio of the period of time in bed to the period of time in sleep being decreased. This tendency nearly coincided with the improvement of the mental states after the operation. With regard to the changes of the sleep stages, duration of the deep sleep stage was prolonged after the operation. In many patients before the operation, the normal rhythmic appearance of six sleep stages were disturbed and the lapse of the whole night sleep showed dysrhythmic patterns. These tendencies showed considerable improvement, electroencephalographically and clinically, after the operation.
2) Duration of the activated sleep stage prolonged both absolutely and relatively after the operation. This prolongation of the activated sleep was remarkable in the fourth week. Functional involvement of the reticular activating system was speculated.
3) No remarkable change in the respiration rate was found. Almost all cases showed changes in the pulse rate after the operation. In five cases the dominancy of GSR, amely the dominance between palmar and dorsal sides of a hand, changed after the operation. These tendencies in repiration rate, pulse rate and GSR were most remarkable in the first and the fourth weeks. After the fourth week, these changes in the autonomic functions usually stabilized to a certain pattern. The change in the control of the autonomic functions by the ceredral cortex and the brain stem reticular formation was discussed.
4) In the control group the two succesive polygraphic sleep recordings showed no significant changes in such physiological factors as duration of sleep, rhythmic appearance of sleep stages, respiration rate, pulse rate, GSR, etc.
5) The improvement of the mental states after the operation was found to be related and almost parallel to the improvement of the physiological factors after the operation.

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