Transient autobiographic amnesia: EEG and single-photon emission CT evidence of an organic etiology.
We describe a 44-year-old patient who had a transient attack of autobiographic amnesia. When assessed during the attack, her learning abilities were normal, with no sign of anterograde amnesia. In the remote memory domain, she showed a striking dissociation between a detailed knowledge of public events and famous people and a complete loss of autobiographic information. During the attack, EEG recorded bilateral frontotemporal slow waves and single-photon emission CT (SPECT) showed hypoperfusion in the right temporal and parietal lobes; no abnormalities were detected when both EEG and SPECT were repeated 1 week later. This case provides evidence for an organic etiology for the episode and supports the hypothesis that autobiographic memory is independent of other forms of retrograde memory.
Venneri
A
A
Department of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, UK.
Caffarra
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon