CASE REPORT   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2018 November;177(11):661-6

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.17.03632-4

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Hippocampal reversible lesions in a case of transient global amnesia

Cesare GAGLIARDO ¹ ✉, Giuseppe LA TONA ¹, Fabio BARONE ¹, Giuseppe SALVAGGIO ¹, Carla CANNIZZARO ², Roberto LAGALLA ¹

¹ Section of Radiological Sciences, Department of Biopathology and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; ² G. D’Alessandro Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

We report the case of 55-year-old man that after an emotional stress showed retrograde and anterograde amnesia with impairment of orientation in space and time but undisturbed consciousness. A neurological examination excluded other neurological signs or symptoms. The amnesic syndrome resolved spontaneously within 24 hours and the hypothesis of transient global amnesia was placed. Brain CT scan and conventional MRI sequences did not show any relevant pathological findings but diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) showed two millimetric bright spot of restricted diffusion in the right hippocampus; in a brain MRI follow-up those findings were no more appreciable. The diagnosis of transient global amnesia is primarily clinical, and MRI can give a positive diagnostic support. For a best detection of lesions is very important to respect the right time of imaging and the optimal DWI protocol. Here we highlight the importance of a prompted, well-timed imaging and an appropriate protocol, to ensure a correct and defined detection of the lesions.

KEY WORDS: Transient global amnesia - Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging - Hippocampus - Memory