Two cases of delayed-onset transient global amnesia after saline-contrast transthoracic echocardiography.

INTRODUCTION

We present 2 cases of transient global amnesia (TGA) with delays of 1 and 2 hours after saline-contrast transthoracic echocardiography. The unique presentation in these cases may help elucidate the possible mechanisms underlying TGA.

CASES: (1) A 63-year-old woman admitted for lower extremity arterial thrombosis with TGA onset 1 hour after saline-contrast echocardiography. (2) A 75-year-old woman admitted to rule out myocardial infarction with TGA onset 2 hours after saline-contrast echocardiography.

CONCLUSIONS

The precipitating events of TGA are varied and an understanding of the mechanism(s) underlying the phenomenon is incomplete. However, the presence of a delay after the trigger event as described in these cases is unique and informative in that it lends strength to some proposed mechanisms over others in this subset of TGA presentations.