[Amnestic episodes. Analysis of 111 personal cases]

A typical episode of transient global amnesia has been observed in 111 personal cases. In these elderly patients a sudden disturbance of memory, which may last several hours, makes it impossible for them to store fresh information. During this period there is also retrograde amnesia which covers a period of several weeks or months prior to onset of the acute episode. The disturbance ends suddenly and the retrograde amnesia gap fills up again. The age distribution, vascular risk factors and triggering mechanisms in these personal cases are described. 22 of 111 patients had 1 or more relapses, in one case after a 15 years' interval. It is our opinion that transient global amnesia is a vascular disturbance in the hippocampal region. One example of localized (ischemic) area in this region has been shown by computed tomography.