Co-occurrence of executive impairment and amnesic syndrome following sub arachnoid haemorrhage: a case study.

This case study presents a 37 year old man, P.P., who shows evidence of both profound executive impairment and diencephalic amnesia associated with two discrete lesion sites following a Sub Arachnoid Haemorrhage. The executive impairment is unusual in type and severity, amounting to a gross impairment in the initiation and organisation of action. The thalamic lesion provides a rare example of diencephalic damage resulting in an extensive retrograde amnesia of the type that is often associated with Korsakoff's syndrome, but which in this case is not associated with prolonged alcohol abuse. Some of the problems caused by the co-occurrence of two such profound and disabling impairments are discussed.