Transient Global Amnesia at the Emergency Department

Abstract

Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a complex clinical syndrome characterized by sudden onset of an anterograde and retrograde amnesia that can last up to 24 hours, even if mild subclinical neuropsychological deficits may be detected. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective 9 year-study involving all patients with diagnosis of TGA evaluated at department of Emergency at the hospital of Esine (Vallecamonica, Brescia, Italy) January the 1st 2012 up to December 31 th 2020. Aim of the study is to evaluate preliminary epidemiological data of AGT in a small area of Lombardia. Results: 169 females and 117 men were considered, with mean age 67 ±10.9 (females 68.5±10.5, men 64.5±10.4). Number of patients discharged with diagnosis of transient global amnesia varied from 17 in 2012 to 40 in 2019.Discussion:In conclusion we performed one of the longest observational studies involving patients with transient global amnesia. Considering that it was retrospective and based ICD-9 code at hospital discharge, that misdiagnosed or miscoded patients could not be identified. Further data will be collected from General Practitioners archive who evaluated patients with mild symptoms

Keywords

Amnesia, emergency unit, relapse