FORNIX DAMAGE AND MEMORY - A CASE-REPORT

The role of the fornix for episodic memory processing is still a matte r of controversy. A juvenile patient of average post-surgical intellig ence with fornical damage due to tumor removal is described. The forni x was damaged bilaterally at the level of the fornical columns. The pa tient thereafter suffered major anterograde amnesia which was most pro nounced in tests using long delays (e.g., in the delayed recall index of the revised Wechsler Memory Scale). Amnesia was as prominent on the verbal as on the nonverbal level. Attention, concentration and short term memory abilities were preserved. Cognitive flexibility, procedura l memory and priming were principally unimpaired. There was no evidenc e of retrograde amnesia. It is concluded that the fornix constitutes a major link between the three memory interfaces (medial diencephalon, medial temporal lobe, basal forebrain) and that its bilateral rupture anterior to the thalamic level may lead to lasting anterograde amnesia .