"The Temporary Memory Lapse of Transient Global Amnesia" - Jane E. Brody
Late one morning in June, Ms. J. began to behave oddly, and an alarmed colleague called 911 and paramedics took her to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital. Ms. J. could remember nothing that happened after she left the doctor’s office and made her way to work. The next thing Ms. J. remembers is waking up hours later in a hospital bed and asking, “Where am I? Why am I here?” In the interim, Carolyn Brockington, MD, assistant professor of neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai had examined her and ordered a CT scan and M.R.I. of her brain. All the results were normal. There was no physical weakness, no structural abnormality, no evidence of a stroke, seizure or transient ischemic attack. So, what had happened? A diagnosis of exclusion: Transient global amnesia, often called T.G.A. It is a temporary lapse in memory that can never be retrieved. “It’s as if the brain is on overload and takes a break to recharge.”
— Carolyn D. Brockington, MD, Assistant Professor, Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, Stroke Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital