TRANSIENT GLOBAL AMNESIA - INDUCTION BY E MOTIONAL-STRESS AND PATHOGENETIC CONSIDERATIONS

Induction by Emotional Stress and Pathogenetic Considerations: Transie nt global amnesia (TGA) is an acute amnestic syndrome without neurolog ical symptoms and remitting spontaneously. Though cerebral ischemia, e pilepsy, and migraine have been implicated in some cases, non of these factors could be proven responsible for most, and etiology remains un clear. Of special interest is the induction of TCA by psychological an d emotional stress in about 14-29% of all cases, which is illustrated by the clinical example of a 72-year-old women who suffered an attack of TGA after discovering a burglary in her home. Psychopathological an d pathogenetic aspects are discussed in the context of recent neurobio logical memory research. This suggests that TGA involves transient dys function of a specific memory subsystem associated with hippocampal st ructures. Neural network modelling explains the syndrome of TGA on a p athogenetic basis allowing for heterogeneous etiology and even for psy chogenic release. Thus TCA serves as a model for pathogenetic explanat ion in the neuro-psychiatric borderland.