Memory and metamemory during transient global amnesia: a comparative study about long-term follow up

Introduction. Diagnostic criteria of transient global amnesia (TGA) establishes that memory functioning has to be recovered in 24 hours. However, there are contradictory data about the existence of long-term sequelae. Furthermore, there is no consensus about which is the most suitable tool in order to use in the assessment of the follow up of these patients. Aims. To assess episodic memory of TGA patients during amnesic episode and 7, 30 and 90 days after with free recall and Mini-Mental tasks. Moreover, it has been measured patient's metamemory. Subjects and methods. 17 TGA patients and 17 healthy volunteers, matched by age, sex, and educational level were assessed. A longitudinal (four assessments) and factorial (patients and control group) study was carried out. Results. During TGA, free recall and Mini-Mental tasks were significantly affected. However, only free recall task showed improvement along time and impairment after three months. It has been also detected that metamemory of TGA patients is imprecise. Conclusions. Comparing with control group, both free recall and Mini-Mental tasks have significant lower levels during TGA, but only the first one is sensitive enough to show long-term disturbance associated with this amnesia.