Vascular thalamic amnesia: a reappraisal.
Giovanni Augusto Carlesimo1, Maria Giovanna Lombardi2, Carlo Caltagirone1
1Neurology Clinic, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy; Unit of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, Santa Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Neuropsychologia
|January 25, 2011
Summary
Thalamic strokes causing amnesia impair long-term memory but spare short-term memory. Specific thalamic pathways, like the mammillo-thalamic tract, are crucial for memory recall and familiarity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Lacunar infarcts in the thalamus are linked to amnesic syndromes.
- Understanding the specific thalamic structures involved in memory is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze memory deficits in vascular thalamic amnesia.
- To identify key thalamic structures responsible for amnesia.
- To differentiate thalamic roles in recollection versus familiarity.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of 41 papers (1983-2009) involving 83 patients with thalamic ischemic lesions.
- Analysis of qualitative memory impairments and associated deficits.
- Correlation of lesioned intrathalamic structures with amnesic syndromes.
Main Results:
- Vascular thalamic amnesia primarily affects declarative anterograde long-term memory, with spared short-term and implicit memory.
- Dysexecutive and behavioral deficits are common, resembling frontal lobe damage.
- Mammillo-thalamic tract involvement predicts amnesia, connecting anterior nuclei to the hippocampus.
Conclusions:
- The mammillo-thalamic tract/anterior nuclei pathway is critical for recollection.
- The ventroamygdalofugal pathway/medio-dorsal axis is implicated in familiarity.
- Thalamic lesions can cause amnesia with distinct patterns compared to mesio-temporal damage.
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