Persistent severe amnesia due to seizure recurrence after unilateral temporal lobectomy.
Anterograde amnesia is a severely disabling state which has been reported as a consequence of bilateral mesiotemporal lesions in humans. In the present paper, recurrent epileptic seizures after temporal lobectomy are described as a rare cause of severe amnesia in two patients. Diffusion-weighted MRI in one patient showed cytotoxic edema during a nonconvulsive status epilepticus and subsequent progressive hippocampal atrophy within the following month. In the other patient, repeated conventional MRI revealed no structural abnormalities in the contralateral temporal lobe.
Dietl
Thomas
T
Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, D-53105 Bonn, Germany. t.dietl@web.de
Urbach
Horst
H
Helmstaedter
Christoph
C
Staedtgen
Mario
M
Szentkuti
Andras
A
Grunwald
Thomas
T
Meyer
Bernhard
B
Elger
Christian
C
Kurthen
Martin
M
D000328:Adult; D020324:Amnesia, Anterograde / Q000209:etiology*; D038481:Anterior Temporal Lobectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011612:Psychosurgery / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012008:Recurrence; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery