Regional cerebral blood flow and metabolism in patients with transient global amnesia: a positron emission tomography study

• Published in: Journal of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry Vol. 52; no. 5; pp. 622 - 630
• Main Authors: Fujii, K, Sadoshima, S, Ishitsuka, T, Kusuda, K, Kuwabara, Y, Ichiya, Y, Fujishima, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.05.1989; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Amnesia - diagnostic imaging; Amnesia, Retrograde - diagnostic imaging; Amnesia, Retrograde - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes; Female; Humans; Ischemic Attack, Transient - diagnostic imaging; Ischemic Attack, Transient - metabolism; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Oxygen - metabolism; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Radionuclide study; Human; Regional blood flow; Brain; Nervous system diseases; Pathogenesis; Higher nervous function; Exploration; Transitory; Ischemia; Amnesia; Hemodynamics; Positron emission tomography; Comparative study; Cerebrovascular disease
• ISSN: 0022-3050; 1468-330X
• DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.52.5.622

In four patients who experienced transient global amnesia (TGA), clinical features and neuroradiological findings including positron emission tomography (PET) were studied within three months of the episodes, and compared with those in seven cases with cerebral transient ischaemic attacks (TIA). None of TGA patients had a previous history or significant risk factors for the cerebrovascular diseases. Their electroencephalogram, brain CT and angiogram for the head and neck were almost normal. PET study showed better preserved cerebral blood flow and oxygen metabolism in each area of the brain in patients with TGA compared with those with TIA in whom focal reductions of flow and metabolism were evident. These observations suggest that TGA is caused by reversible circulatory and/or metabolic disturbance, of which mechanism might be different from that in TIA.