Long-term outcome in transient global amnesia patients with and without focal hyperintensities in the CA1 region of the hippocampus.

Focal hippocampal diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesion patterns are detected in transient global amnesia (TGA) patients in different frequency. It has been speculated that acute diffusion restrictions are associated with a worse outcome. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of acute DWI lesions on the cognitive long-term outcome in TGA patients. Seventeen otherwise healthy patients with the clinical syndrome of TGA, who had MRI investigations on admission as well as 1 day later, were investigated with a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery 2 years later. Acute hippocampal DWI lesions in TGA patients were detected in almost two thirds of the patients. Psychometric evaluation revealed no differences in cognitive performance between patients with and without DWI lesions as well as compared to healthy subjects. In addition, no relapse of the attack has been recognized in either group of TGA patients.