title: [Transient global amnesia - a paroxysmal amnestic syndrome (author's transl)].
abstract: The Syndrome of Transient Global Amnesia is clinically characterized by a disorder of the ability to form memory engrams, appearing suddenly and lasting for several hours. Since the first papers on this syndrome by Bender (1956) and Fisher and Adams (1964) approximately one hundred cases of transient global amnesia have been described. Symptomatology, course, somatic findings and differential diagnosis are discussed with consideration of the literatur and three own observations. Regarding the etiology most authors discuss a transitory localized ischemia in the circulatory area of the vertebral-basilar artery system. Relapsing episodes occur less frequently than single episodes. In connection with this disorder characterized by the paroxysmal occurence and the episodic course, possible ways of genesis of amnesic syndromes are discussed. Theoretically three types of amnestic syndromes of organic origin may be differentiated: (1) amnesia in the frame of "function psychosis", i.e. of global mental deterioration caused by various diffuse brain function disorders; (2) amnesia caused by a combination of diffuse (function psychosis) and local brain function disorder; (3) purely local type of amnesia without function psychosis. In the combined type of amnesia a dissociation between the severity of memory disorders and relatively mild function psychosis is to be found. The importance of psychopathometric investigations, i.e. of quantitative determination of other mental dysfunctions besides memory disorder, for the interpretation of an amnesic syndrome is emphasized. Unfortunately these have not been possible in the cases described in this paper.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D001488:Basilar Artery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D013577:Syndrome
vernacular_title: Transitorische globale Amnesie - ein paroxysmales amnestisches Syndrom