Characteristics of the memory loss of a patient with Wernicke-Korsakoff's syndrome without alcoholism.

The memory loss in alcoholic Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome has been well characterized. However, it has been suggested that some of the neuropsychological defects seen in these patients are due to frontal lobe dysfunction resulting from chronic alcohol abuse. The present report details the nature and extent of the amnesia in a Wernicke-Korsakoff patient who did not have a history of alcoholism. In spite of her normal performance on measures of frontal lobe function, this patient showed many characteristics similar to those seen in alcoholic Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome including a graded loss of remote memories and abnormal semantic information processing. Thus, the extent of the "core" features of this amnesic syndrome may be greater than was previously thought.