Continuing Cognitive Impairment After Isolated Transient Global Amnesia

Abstract

Fourteen patients were investigated 3–4 days after end of their transient global amnesia (TGA) with a number of neuropsychological tests. Their performance was compared with that of a control group, matched for age, education, and profession. It was found that in spite of the common definition of TGA, impairments in both verbal and nonverbal long term memory and verbal fluency persisted and were in fact impaired to such a degree that it seemed unlikely that full recovery would have occurred within the next few days. We propose a major role of stress in the etiology and the recovery process of TGA and consider it likely that stress hormones are of major influence both in the triggering of TGA and the subsequent continuation of cognitive impairments.

Key Words:

• Stress
• Memory
• Hippocampus
• Medial temporal lobe