Case 9: Pregnant? Who's Pregnant?: Memory Loss in a Young Woman

Constance Smith-Hicks, MD, PhD

May 26, 2005

Which Symptoms Relate to the Lesion?

The splenium of the corpus callosum is the dominant path for visual integration, transferring visual information from the visual cortices to the dominant language hemisphere. Although the patient's difficulties with written comprehension could be explained by this lesion, this is not sufficient to explain her amnesia.

What is/are the possible etiologies of the splenium lesion?

Vascular
Infectious
Toxic
Autoimmune
Neoplastic
Metabolic

View the correct answer.

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Cite this: Case 9: Pregnant? Who's Pregnant?: Memory Loss in a Young Woman - Medscape - May 26, 2005.

Forms of Memory and Its Functional Localization
Types of Memory	Characteristics	Functional Localization
Anterograde	Learning new information after brain injury	Hippocampus and interconnected structures Parahippocampal gyrus
Retrograde	Retrieval of previous knowledge	Nonmesial temporal lobe
Verbal	Word-based material	Left hemisphere
Nonverbal	Faces, geographic routes, complex melodies	Right hemisphere
Declarative	Brought into consciousness	Linked to mesial temporal structures
Nondeclarative	Performance-based -- habits and conditioning	Neostriatum, sensorimotor cortices, cerebellum
Short-term	Ephemeral (30-45 seconds)	Independent of temporal structures linked to attention and concentration
Long-term	Permanent	Temporal lobe, including mesial
Working	Longer duration than short term, minutes, operational	Frontal lobe

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