Posterior hippocampal stroke presenting with transient global amnesia

ABSTRACT

The acute onset of isolated amnesia is an intriguing challenge for neurologist, because the lack of associated signs can be misleading for diagnosis. The most common cause is transient global amnesia (TGA), a benign condition, but rarely it results from abuse of substance/alcohol or cerebrovascular diseases. In the latter, the brain region involved is the hippocampus. We describe a patient with presenting symptoms of TGA, but affected by an ischemic hippocampal stroke. The computed tomography angiography helped the etiologic diagnosis showing an hemodynamic stenosis of the posterior P2P segment. Interestingly, neuropsychological features were consistent with those found in patients suffering TGA.

KEYWORDS:

• Stroke
• hippocampus
• global transient amnesia
• neuropsychology
• neuroimaging

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Cecilia Baroncini and Niamh Bernadette Casey who edited the English text.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.