[Amnestic episodes. (Isolated episodes of confusion with amnesia, amnesic ictus, transient global amnesia)]

The author, by giving an outline of one particular case as well as a survey of the relevant literature on transient global amnesia, describes the characteristic clinical picture that is characterized by a sudden loss of what is known as the short-time memory, which usually lasts for several hours, as well as by retrograde amnesia which sometimes dates back to many years. The condition gradually fades away within a few hours or during a night's sleep, and what remains is lack or loss of memory for the episodic period or sometimes retrograde amnesia. Relapses were not observed in the majority of patients. The disease usually develops in people in their sixth to eighth decades of life. The cause of the disease is not yet fully understood. Accordingly, it is justified to use such terms as autochthonous or cryptogenic amnestic episodes. The disease is also discussed from a differential diagnosis point of view.