Persistent global amnesia following right thalamic stroke: an 11-year longitudinal study.
The 11-year longitudinal study of a right-handed male patient, L. C., who suffered from a severe amnesic syndrome following a softening in the right thalamus, is reported. Memory impairment involving retrograde and long-term anterograde memory, both verbal and spatial, persisted without modification. Investigation revealed some residual implicit learning ability. Positron emission tomography studies in the resting state displayed a bilateral hypometabolism of the mesial frontal lobes. Evidence suggests that a lesion confined to the thalamus may not on its own account for severe amnesia; that involvement of other structures is necessary for severe amnesia to appear; and that a functional investigation should always be included in cases of small thalamic lesions before drawing conclusions about the structures responsible for a given deficit.
Sala
S D
SD
Department of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Spinnler
H
H
Venneri
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000647:Amnesia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013786:Thalamic Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed