Papers of the Week

Transient global amnesia (TGA) is an uncommon clinical syndrome characterized by short-term memory loss and disorientation that resolves in 24 h. Here, we report a 60-year-old male patient who presented with a sudden onset of disorientation and short-term memory loss and started to ask about his whereabouts and what happened. He had no significant past medical or psychiatric disorder. Likewise, the patient did not have a recent history of head trauma, substance abuse, loss of consciousness, seizure disorder, or migraine. Neurologic examination was normal except for mild disorientation and short-term memory impairment. He had a score of 18/30 on the mini-mental state examination. Extensive laboratory investigations did not show any abnormal findings. Brain MRI and EEG were normal. His memory improved and returned to a normal baseline within 24 h from the onset. After the exclusion of potential causes and the patient returned to a normal state of memory, the diagnosis of transient global amnesia was made. At the follow-up visit, the patient was in a state of normal function without a recurrence of memory impairment. Here, we presented this interesting case of transient global amnesia. TGA is a diagnosis of exclusion and is essential to keep in mind when evaluating a patient with acute onset of short-term memory impairment, especially when etiological investigations reveal no potential cause.