Hypothalamic amnesia with spontaneous confabulations: a clinicopathologic study

Neurology. 2001 Jun 12;56(11):1597-600. doi: 10.1212/wnl.56.11.1597.

Abstract

Previous studies demonstrated that patients producing spontaneous confabulations fail to suppress currently irrelevant memory traces and have anterior limbic lesions, particularly involving the orbitofrontal cortex or the basal forebrain. Here, a woman is described who had sarcoidosis damaging the medial hypothalamus and endocrine dysfunction, and a severe memory failure characterized by spontaneous confabulation, disorientation, and severely impaired free recall with preserved recognition. Isolated hypothalamic damage may produce the same type of memory disorder as orbitofrontal damage.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Amnesia / pathology*
  • Amnesia / physiopathology
  • Cognition Disorders / pathology*
  • Cognition Disorders / physiopathology
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypothalamic Diseases / pathology*
  • Hypothalamic Diseases / physiopathology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Verbal Behavior*