TY - JOUR
T1 - Autobiographical amnesia and accelerated forgetting in transient epileptic amnesia
AU - Manes, F.
AU - Graham, K. S.
AU - Zeman, A.
AU - De Luján Calcagno, M.
AU - Hodges, J. R.
PY - 2005/10
Y1 - 2005/10
N2 - Background: Recurrent brief isolated episodes of amnesia associated with epileptiform discharges on EEG recordings have been interpreted as a distinct entity termed transient epileptic amnesia (TEA). Patients with TEA often complain of autobiographical amnesia for recent and remote events, but show normal anterograde memory. Objective: To investigate (a) accelerated long term forgetting and (b) autobiographical memory in a group of patients with TEA. Methods: Seven patients with TEA and seven age matched controls were evaluated on a range of anterograde memory tasks in two sessions separated by 6 weeks and by the Galton-Crovitz test of cued autobiographical memory. Results: Patients with TEA showed abnormal long term forgetting of verbal material, with virtually no recall after 6 weeks. In addition, there was impaired recall of autobiographical memories from the time periods 1985-89 and 1990-94 but not from 1995-1999. Conclusions: TEA is associated with accelerated loss of new information and impaired remote autobiographical memory. There are a number of possible explanations including ongoing subclinical ictal activity, medial temporal lobe damage as a result of seizure, or subtle ischaemic pathology. Future analyses should seek to clarify the relationship between aetiology, seizure frequency, and degree of memory impairment.
AB - Background: Recurrent brief isolated episodes of amnesia associated with epileptiform discharges on EEG recordings have been interpreted as a distinct entity termed transient epileptic amnesia (TEA). Patients with TEA often complain of autobiographical amnesia for recent and remote events, but show normal anterograde memory. Objective: To investigate (a) accelerated long term forgetting and (b) autobiographical memory in a group of patients with TEA. Methods: Seven patients with TEA and seven age matched controls were evaluated on a range of anterograde memory tasks in two sessions separated by 6 weeks and by the Galton-Crovitz test of cued autobiographical memory. Results: Patients with TEA showed abnormal long term forgetting of verbal material, with virtually no recall after 6 weeks. In addition, there was impaired recall of autobiographical memories from the time periods 1985-89 and 1990-94 but not from 1995-1999. Conclusions: TEA is associated with accelerated loss of new information and impaired remote autobiographical memory. There are a number of possible explanations including ongoing subclinical ictal activity, medial temporal lobe damage as a result of seizure, or subtle ischaemic pathology. Future analyses should seek to clarify the relationship between aetiology, seizure frequency, and degree of memory impairment.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=25444517292&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/jnnp.2004.036582
DO - 10.1136/jnnp.2004.036582
M3 - Article
C2 - 16170082
AN - SCOPUS:25444517292
SN - 0022-3050
VL - 76
SP - 1387
EP - 1391
JO - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
JF - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
IS - 10
ER -