RETROSPLENIAL AMNESIA

• DOI: 10.1093/brain/110.6.1631
• Publication Date: 2007-01-04T09:37:03Z
• Authors: EDWARD VALENSTEIN; DAWN BOWERS; MIEKE VERFAELLIE; KENNETH M. HEILMAN; ARTHUR DAY; ROBERT T. WATSON
• Keywords: Retrosplenial cortex; Fornix; Splenium; Subiculum; Anterograde amnesia; Mammillary body; Cingulate cortex; Limbic system

A 39-year-old man developed retrograde and anterograde amnesia following haemorrhage from an arteriovenous malformation situated near the splenium of corpus callosum. MRI studies demonstrated damage to splenium, a region containing retrosplenial cortex cingulate bundle. The fornix was anterior inferior site maximal damage, but may have been involved; stria terminalis probably spared. Structures known be important in memory spared by lesion included hippocampus, thalamus, basal forebrain. receives input subiculum projects thus providing alternative route between hippocampus thalamus. Perhaps more importantly, medial temporal structures involved receive thalamic directly via bundle indirectly through relay cortex. We suggest that this thalamocortical portion Papez' circuit memory, lesions cingulum cause disrupting pathway.