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amnesia

Disturbance of long-term memory characterized by an inability to recall past experiences & a disturbance in learning new information. It is generally anterograde or ongoing, but also may include include retrograde amnesia for events that occurred just prior to a cerebral insult. Etiology: 1) dementia 2) head trauma 3) stroke 4) Korsakoff's psychosis 5) seizure (temporal lobe) 6) anoxic injury to the hippocampus a) hippocampal sclerosis b) limbic encephalitis c) Herpes encephalitis 7) psychogenic amnesia 8) drugs: fentanyl + cocaine (case report) [3] Pathology: -> injury to the limbic system a) hippocampi (bilateral) b) midline limbic structures Clinical manifestations: - memory impairment

Related

dementia; Alzheimer's disease & related dementias (ADRD) head injury Korsakoff's syndrome (amnesic psychosis) limbic system memory seizure; epileptic seizure stroke; cerebrovascular accident (CVA)

Specific

transient global amnesia

General

sign/symptom

References

  1. Stedman's Medical Dictionary 27th ed, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1999
  2. Mendez M. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, Osterweil et al eds, McGraw Hill, New York, 2000, pg 77
  3. Duru UB, Pawar G, Barash JA et al An Unusual Amnestic Syndrome Associated With Combined Fentanyl and Cocaine Use. Ann Intern Med. 2018. Jan 30 PMID: 29379942 http://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2671032/unusual-amnestic-syndrome-associated-combined-fentanyl-cocaine-use