The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

Full Text of this Article
in Japanese PDF (232K)

ArticleTitle	Anterograde amnesia with hypothalamus damage following germinoma
Language	J
AuthorList	Hideko Mizuta¹⁾, Naoyasu Motomura²⁾, Yasuhiro Fujimoto³⁾
Affiliation	1) Department of Rehabilitation, Itami Municipal Hospital 2) Department of Health Science, Osaka Kyoiku University 3) Department of Neurosurgery, Itami Municipal Hospital
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 16 (4), 224-230, 2000
Received	Mar 2, 2000
Accepted	May 17, 2000
Abstract	We report a case with severe anterograde amnesia (a 30 year-old male patient) as result of germinoma that destroyed the hypothalamus. Neuropsychological testing was carried out 4 months after admission. He showed severe anterograde amnesia, memory function was impaired for both verbal and visual materials. On other cognitive tasks, he performed well, and there was no neuropsychological evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction. The major characteristics of his mnestic performance were: A discrepancy between impaired free recall and relatively preserved recognition memory. He has been able to retain of everyday events or informations although he was confused regarding the temporal order. His pattern of memory disorder was striking similar to that showed by patient BJ, who incurred a penetrating brain injury caused by a snooker cue (Dusior et al, 1990). MRI showed lesions in the hypothalamus, mamillary bodies, pituitary stalk, and the anterior columns of the fornix. No abnormality was seen in the thalamus and the basal forebrain. These findings indicate that structures in or adjacent to the hypothalamus may play a more important role in human memory functioning than hitherto been considered.
Keywords	amnesia, hypothalamus, mamillary body, basal forebrain, Korsakoff syndrome