Amnestic( Korsakov) syndrome

Amnestic syndrome( amnestic confocal syndrome, Korsakov syndrome) is a symptom complex that combines memory disorders with current events( fixative amnesia), a time orientation disorder, an environment, a place and the presence of false memories. This condition occurs with infectious diseases, brain tumors, severe intoxications( primarily alcoholic ones), cerebral circulation, vitamin B deficiency, as a result of craniocerebral trauma.

. Amnestic syndrome

. The most pronounced manifestations are memory disorders for current events. People with this syndrome can almost immediately forget what they have just said, and after only a few minutes no longer remember who approached them, so they often ask the same questions, repeatedly greet the same people, notAre able to say that they just ate what they were doing;Can read a single page in a book for weeks, instantly forgetting what they read. The verbal memory is violated to a greater extent, the less is the image memory.

Despite the fact that the memory breakdown for current events is clearly expressed, the memory of past events, even remote ones, remains almost completely preserved, and the selected memories of old events are generally very bright. Events that immediately preceded the disease, ranging from a few weeks to several years - may completely fall out of the memory of the patient, suggesting the existence of so-called retrograde amnesia of varying duration.

Characteristic orientation disorders in the environment, place and time are of different severity. The most pronounced orientation in time: patients are not in a position not only to name the number, day, month, year, but also are not guided in the time of the year. The orientation in the place is less disturbed, but patients with severe disorders can not navigate in their familiar surroundings( they do not find their bed, the way to the toilet or the dining room).

False memories in the amnestic syndrome are of two kinds. The most common are the replacement of the memory gaps in the current events with real memories of events that occurred in the past. In some patients with this syndrome, the phenomena of false recognition are observed when they take people around for people with whom they were previously acquainted

Treatment of

Treatment of Korsakov's syndrome is aimed at eliminating the underlying disease and in most cases is symptomatic. Prescribe drugs that stimulate the metabolic processes that occur in the brain( vitamins, nootropics).If the syndrome developed as a result of vitamin B1 deficiency, vitamin B1 injections( intramuscularly) are administered, and a mandatory diet enriched with carbohydrates and depleted proteins is prescribed.

In most cases, the prognosis is quite serious: a very persistent impairment of mental activity arises, which includes intellectual and mnestic disorders, resulting in a sharp decrease in the possibility of social adaptation. In exceptional cases( with posthypoxic or post-traumatic amnestic syndrome), recovery without the presence of pronounced intellectual-mnestic disorders is possible.

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