Amnesia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Amnesia, including details on memory loss, causes, treatment, brain injury,.

Lack of evidence for arterial ischemia in transient global amnesia.

Toledo M, Pujadas F, Grivé E, Alvarez-Sabin J, Quintana M, Rovira A

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Lesions in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI-L) have been commonly described in transient global amnesia (TGA). We investigated a possible relationship between brain ischemia and TGA. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients underwent transcranial and carotid Doppler ultrasonography (including microembolus detection) and MRI within 24 hours of TGA onset (including DWI, perfusion-weighted imaging and angio-MRI). MRI was repeated at 48 to 96 hours (21 patients) and 30 days (18 patients). RESULTS: Punctate DWI-L were observed in 16 patients (57%) and were not attributable to perfusion abnormalities, arterial stenoses or underlying cardioembolic disease. MRIs performed between 12 and 72 hours showed the highest frequency of DWI-L (88%; P<0.001). No pathological findings were observed at 30 days. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that TGA is not related to cerebral arterial ischemia.

Published 29 January 2008 in Stroke, 39(2): 476-9.
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