Focal retrograde amnesia associated with vascular headache

We report the case of a 42-year-old man with repeated attacks of headache a ssociated with retrograde amnesia. Neuropsychological tests before and afte r the major episode of amnesia showed mild neuropsychological deficits but with spared anterograde memory and learning functions. The amnesia was dens e for a period of 15-20 years and included people and events (public and pr ivate). There was also a suggestion of amnesia for learned skills. Neurolog ically he had mild clinical signs and focal EEG-abnormalities in the left f ronto-temporal region, but CT, MRI, and SPECT showed no abnormality. Five y ears after the onset of amnesia there was no recovery of the retrograde mem ory deficit, but a PET (glucose) scan was normal and neuropsychological tes ting showed no deficits. An association with migraine has been reported for some non-classical amnesias, but this is the first case of selective retro grade amnesia in a patient with headache as a primary neurological diagnosi s. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.