[Transient global amnesia--possible aetiopathogenetic mechanisms]

Transient global amnesia is a clinically well defined syndrome, characterized by transient isolated epizodes of confusion with inability to acquire new data, repetitive quieries, retrograde amnesia and absence of other neurologic symptoms or signs. Eighteen patients who presented at admission the clinical picture of transient global amnesia were, after the examination, classified in three groups: patients with symptoms or signs of transitory focal ischemia, migraine group, and miscellaneous group. The transitory global amnesia in patients suffering from atherosclerotic changes of the vascular system is usually the first manifestation of transitory ischaemic attack pointing to the vascular insufficiency of the posterior cerebral regions as the cause of attack. The typical transient global amnesia is not a rare phenomenon, but it supposes the existence of the precipitating factors. Although its "pure" form is usually benign, the appearance of other factors such as cerebral neoplasms, involved in the aetiology of transient global amnesia, requires the complete clinical examination of each individual with these symptoms.