[Post-traumatic retrograde amnesia].

A case of post traumatic retrograde amnesia is described. The patient presented after an initial coma a global amnesia, but the fixation deficit rapidly disappeared, and a severe retrograde amnesia dating back to childhood experience and learning remained the main symptom. Amnesia for remote events was associated with didactic memory deficit and, at a lesser degree, with a verbal memory deficit. Recovery of fixation allowed a progressive relearning. This pattern of impairment was recently related to mesencephalic lesions, but we think that the role of temporal lobe involvement cannot be neglected.