Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T20:42:40.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Isolated retrograde amnesia for autobiographical material associated with acute left temporal lobe encephalitis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

L. Hokkanen ,
J. Launes ,
R. Vataja ,
L. Valanne  and
M. Iivanainen
L. Hokkanen*
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology, Radiology and Child Neurology, University of Helsinki, Finland
J. Launes
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology, Radiology and Child Neurology, University of Helsinki, Finland
R. Vataja
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology, Radiology and Child Neurology, University of Helsinki, Finland
L. Valanne
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology, Radiology and Child Neurology, University of Helsinki, Finland
M. Iivanainen
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology, Radiology and Child Neurology, University of Helsinki, Finland
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Laura Hokkanen, Department of Neurology, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 4, 00290 Helsinki, Finland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Retrograde amnesia for autobiographical material in the absence of anterograde amnesia or other memory disturbances was found in a patient with acute viral encephalitis. Memory loss showed a temporal gradient, but new learning was spared. Both brain perfusion imaging with 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT, and EEG localized the lesion in the left temporal lobe while CT and MRI were normal. This observation supports the anatomical differentiation between the different memory functions. The uncommon combination of isolated retrograde amnesia without other neuropsychological findings may raise the doubt of psychogenic aetiology, which in this case was refuted.

Type
Case Report
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 203 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, A., Ward, C., Mendelson, M., Mock, J. & Erbaug, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 4, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benton, A. (1974). The Revised Visual Retention Test, 4th edn. The Psychological Corporation: New York.Google Scholar
Christensen, A. L. (1975). Luria's Neuropsychological Investigation. Text. Munksgaard: Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Damasio, A., Eslinger, P., Damasio, H., Van Hoesen, G. & Cornell, S. (1985). Multimodal amnesic syndrome following bilateral temporal and basal forebrain damage. Archives of Neurology 42, 252–259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Della Sala, S., Laiacona, M., Spinnler, H. & Trivelli, C. (1993). Autobiographical recollection and frontal damage. Neuropsychologia 31, 823–839.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Renzi, E., Liotti, M. & Nischelli, P. (1987). Semantic amnesia with preservation of autobiographic memory. A case report. Cortex 23, 575–597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erickson, K. (1990). Amnestic disorders. Pathophysiology and patterns of memory dysfunction. Western Journal of Medicine 152, 159–166.Google ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, E., Antin, S., Bilder, R., Gerstman, L., Hughes, J. & Mattis, S. (1981). Retrograde amnesia: possible role of mesencephalic reticular activation in long-term memory. Science 213, 1392–1394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapur, N., Young, A., Bateman, D. & Kennedy, P. (1989). Focal retrograde amnesia: a long term clinical and neuropsychological follow-up. Cortex 25, 387–402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapur, N., Ellison, D., Smith, M., McLellan, D. & Burrows, E. (1992). Focal retrograde amnesia following bilateral temporal lobe pathology. Brain 115, 73–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klapper, P., Cleator, G. & Longson, M. (1984). Mild forms of herpes encephalitis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 47, 1247–1250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M. (1987). Amnesia: organic and psychogenic. British Journal of Psychiatry 150, 428–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M. (1989). Remote and autobiographical memory, temporal context memory and frontal atrophy in Korsakoff and Alzheimer patients. Neuropsychologia 27, 437–460.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M. (1991). Frontal dysfunction and memory deficits in the alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome and Alzheimer-type dementia. Brain 114, 117–137.Google ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M., Wilson, B. & Baddeley, A. (1989). The autobiographical memory interview: a new assessment of autobiographical and personal semantic memory in amnesic patients. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 11, 724–744.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Launes, J., Lindroth, L., Liewendahl, K., Nikkinen, P., Brownell, A. & Iivanainen, M. (1988). Diagnosis of acute Herpes simplex encephalitis by brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography. Lancet 28 05, 1188–1191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lezak, M. (1983). Neuropsychological Assessment. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
O'Connor, M., Butters, N., Milioteis, P., Eslinger, P. & Cermac, L. (1992). The dissociation of anterograde and retrograde amnesia in a patient with Herpes encephalitis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 14, 159–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogden, J. (1993). Visual object agnosia, prosopagnosia, achromatopsia, loss of visual imagery and autobiographical amnesia following recovery from cortical blindness: case M. H. Neuropsychologia 31, 571–589.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parkin, A. (1984). Amnesic syndrome: a lesion-specific disorder? Cortex 20, 479–508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parkin, A. (1991). The relationship between anterograde and retrograde amnesia in alcoholic Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Psychological Medicine 21, 11–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roman-Campos, G., Poser, C. & Wood, F. (1980). Persistent retrograde memory deficit after transient global amnesia. Cortex 16, 509–518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, F. & Symonds, C. (1960). Persistent memory defect following encephalitis. Brain 83, 195–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanders, H. & Warrington, E. (1971). Memory for remote events in amnesic patients. Brain 94, 661–668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schachter, D., Wang, P., Tulving, E. & Freedman, M. (1982). Functional retrograde amnesia: a quantitative case study. Neuropsychologia 20, 523–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1954). Standardized memory scale for clinical use. Journal of Psychology 19, 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1955). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. The Psychological Corporation: New York.Google Scholar