Amnesia following thalamic hemorrhage. Another stroke syndrome.

The clinical manifestations of thalamic hemorrhage frequently comprise hemiparesis, hemianesthesia, and oculomotor abnormalities. Since the advent of computed tomography, an amnestic syndrome following thalamic hemorrhage has been recognized, but the thalamic structures involved and the mechanism of amnesia have remained uncertain. We report a patient with sudden memory dysfunction following hemorrhage into the anterior nucleus of the left thalamus that was shown neuropathologically to disrupt the mamillothalamic fasciculus, one of the principal components of the limbic system. It is considered that the amnestic syndrome following thalamic (anterior nucleus) hemorrhage is due to interruption of the mamillothalamic fasciculus.