Amnesia

Aka: Amnesia, Amnestic Syndrome, Amnestic Disorder, Memory Loss, Retrograde Amnesia, Anterograde Amnesia, Post-Traumatic Amnestic Disorder

advertisement

II. Definitions

  1. Amnesia
    1. Systematic and extensive loss of memory, due to psychological or organic cause
  2. Retrograde Amnesia
    1. Inability to recall past experiences
  3. Anterograde Amnesia
    1. Inability to form new memories after a certain time point

III. Background

  1. Term Amnesia is derived from the greek for a (without) and mnesis (memory)

IV. Pathophysiology

  1. Organic causes most often affect the Hippocampus and medial Temporal Lobes
  2. Longterm memories are often preserved better than memories acquired in closer proximity to Amnesia onset
  3. Working memory is often preserved despite Amnesia

V. Causes

  1. Psychological (transient)
    1. Psychogenic Amnesia (Dissociative Amnesia)
    2. Transient Global Amnesia
  2. Organic (chronic)
    1. Post-Traumatic Amnestic Disorder
      1. Traumatic Head Injury
      2. Cerebrovascular Accident
      3. Neurosurgery
      4. Electroconvulsive Therapy
      5. Anoxic or hypoxic brain injury
    2. Infection
      1. Herpes Simplex Encephalitis
    3. Chronic Thiamine deficiency
      1. Alcohol Amnestic Disorder (Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome)
      2. Beriberi
    4. Drug-Induced Amnesia
      1. Alcohol Intoxication (e.g. blackout)
      2. Benzodiazepines

VI. Differential Diagnosis

  1. Dementia
  2. Delirium
  3. Complex Partial Seizure
  4. Classic Migraine Headache

VII. References

  1. Allen (2018) F1000Res +PMID:29623196 [PubMed]
  2. Brown and Hachinski in Wilson et. al. (1991) Harrison's Internal Medicine, Twelfth Edition, McGraw-Hill, St. Louis, p.188-9

Images: Related links to external sites (from Bing)

These images are a random sampling from a Bing search on the term "Amnesia." Click on the image (or right click) to open the source website in a new browser window. Search Bing for all related images

Related Studies

Related Topics in Cognitive Disorders

advertisement