Transient global amnesia
Updates to Article Attributes
Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a clinical syndrome with no clear aetiology identified. Most symptoms are transient and resolve within a few hours.
Epidemiology
Most common in patients of older age (50-70 years old).
Clinical presentation
Anterograde and partial retrograde amnesia lasting less than 24 hours without any other neurological or congestive symptoms. Most cases show complete resolution of symptoms within a few hours from onset of symptoms.
Pathology
Several hypotheses (e.g. epileptic phenomena, stroke, focal ischemia) have been proposed with no consensus on the exact mechanism 1.
Radiographic features
Brain CT scan and conventional sequences of MRI brain show no abnormalities.
MRI
Prospective and retrospective studies based on a small number of TGA patients show diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can detect small punctate high signal lesion(s)regions of abnormally restricted diffusion on DWI/ADC sequences in the CA1 area of the hippocampus (lateral edge of the hippocampal gyrus abutting the temporal horn). These lesions can be bilateral and even multifocal 2-4.
Treatment and prognosis
No treatment is required and the condition tends to not recur 5.
-<p><strong>Transient global amnesia (TGA) </strong>is a clinical syndrome with no clear aetiology identified. Most symptoms are transient and resolve within a few hours. </p><h4>Epidemiology</h4><p>Most common in patients of older age (50-70 years old).</p><h4>Clinical presentation</h4><p>Anterograde and partial retrograde amnesia lasting less than 24 hours without any other neurological or congestive symptoms. Most cases show complete resolution of symptoms within a few hours from onset of symptoms.</p><h4>Pathology</h4><p>Several hypotheses (e.g. epileptic phenomena, stroke, focal ischemia) have been proposed with no consensus on the exact mechanism <sup>1</sup>.</p><h4>Radiographic features</h4><p>Brain CT scan and conventional sequences of MRI brain show no abnormalities.</p><h5>MRI</h5><p>Prospective and retrospective studies based on a small number of TGA patients show diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can detect small punctate high signal lesion(s) in the CA1 area of the <a href="/articles/hippocampus">hippocampus</a> (lateral edge of the hippocampal gyrus abutting the temporal horn). These lesions can be bilateral and even multifocal <sup>2-4</sup>. </p><h4>Treatment and prognosis</h4><p>No treatment is required and the condition tends to not recur <sup>5</sup>.</p>- +<p><strong>Transient global amnesia (TGA) </strong>is a clinical syndrome with no clear aetiology identified. Most symptoms are transient and resolve within a few hours. </p><h4>Epidemiology</h4><p>Most common in patients of older age (50-70 years old).</p><h4>Clinical presentation</h4><p>Anterograde and partial retrograde amnesia lasting less than 24 hours without any other neurological or congestive symptoms. Most cases show complete resolution of symptoms within a few hours from onset of symptoms.</p><h4>Pathology</h4><p>Several hypotheses (e.g. epileptic phenomena, stroke, focal ischemia) have been proposed with no consensus on the exact mechanism <sup>1</sup>.</p><h4>Radiographic features</h4><p>Brain CT scan and conventional sequences of MRI brain show no abnormalities.</p><h5>MRI</h5><p>Prospective and retrospective studies based on a small number of TGA patients can detect small punctate regions of abnormally restricted diffusion on DWI/ADC sequences in the CA1 area of the <a href="/articles/hippocampus">hippocampus</a> (lateral edge of the hippocampal gyrus abutting the temporal horn). These lesions can be bilateral and even multifocal <sup>2-4</sup>. </p><h4>Treatment and prognosis</h4><p>No treatment is required and the condition tends to not recur <sup>5</sup>.</p>