Resumo

MAYA ENTENZA, Carlos Manuel; MARTIN LABRADOR, Miladys  e  MONTEAGUDO TORRES, Marisol. Transient global amnesia: Study of 260 patients. Rev cubana med [online]. 2007, vol.46, n.1. ISSN 0034-7523.

Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a memory disorder that appears in middle-aged and elderly persons. The clinical picture is characterized by episodes of anterograde amnesia and confusion with some hours of duration with total recovery and non-well recognized pathogeny. This research was made to try to establish the clinical features, risk factors (RF) and evolution of the patients receiving attention in this setting. A prospective study of 260 patients with TGA seen in the Neurology Service between 1988 and 2002, including both, was conducted. The data were obtained by interviewing the patients and relatives, and the clinical characteristics, RF, complementary tests and evolution were analyzed. It was observed that 226 (86.9 %) were over 60. The average age was 68.3 years old. Arterial hypertension was a triggering factor in 144 patients (55.4 %), whereas stress was it in 138 (53.1 %). The average duration of the episodes was 3.5 hours. Among the vascular risk factors (VRF), arterial hypertension was present in 160 patients (61.5 %), followed by smoking habit in 92 (35.4 %). 188 persons (72.4 %) had between 1 and 3 episodes. The average was 2.3 seizures. The average follow-up time in our casuistics was 8.1 years. It was proved that 217 patients (83.5 %) were asymptomatic, whereas 21 (8.1 %) had died, and 12 had suffered from stroke. It was concluded that TGA is a syndrome that appears more frequently in individuals over 60. The pathogeny has not been dilucidated yet and there are diverse risk factors whose role has not been identified. The evolution of the patients does not help to determine the etiology and, according to what has been observed, it seems to be a benign process.

Palavras-chave : Amnesia; anterograde amnesia; transient global amnesia; risk factor; hippocampus; migraine.