title: Isolated retrograde amnesia for autobiographical material associated with acute left temporal lobe encephalitis.
abstract: Retrograde amnesia for autobiographical material in the absence of anterograde amnesia or other memory disturbances was found in a patient with acute viral encephalitis. Memory loss showed a temporal gradient, but new learning was spared. Both brain perfusion imaging with 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT, and EEG localized the lesion in the left temporal lobe while CT and MRI were normal. This observation supports the anatomical differentiation between the different memory functions. The uncommon combination of isolated retrograde amnesia without other neuropsychological findings may raise the doubt of psychogenic aetiology, which in this case was refuted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hokkanen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Launes
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vataja
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valanne
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iivanainen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000648:Amnesia, Retrograde / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*