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- Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:31 am
My 16 y-o son was in an atv accident (lost control and hit a tree) wearing a helmet. he suffered a facial and sinus fracture. as far as we know he never lost consciousness. He has no memory of the event and has severe memory loss although he has good motor skills, balance and appropriately functions during the day for basic needs (ie toilet and feeding himself). he also respond appropriately to verbal commands. A ct scan and x-rays showed no bleeding in the brain the day of the accident and a follow-up ct five days later again showed no bleeding. yet he is not progressing in his mental recovery, can't remember things asked of him after 2-3 minutes, forgets to put cloths on after getting up from a nap. He is seeing his doctor for a referral to a Neurologist Monday and I am looking for specific questions to ask the doctor to help in his recovery.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
| Dr.M.Aroon kamath
- Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:52 am
It appears that your son may have one type of defect of forming 'new' memories, known as "antegrade amnesia" (selective memory deficit).
In this disorder, memory of events that occurred since the injury may be lost.
There are two types of amnesia in relation to traumatic brain injuries: "antegrade amnesia" & "retrograde amnesia".
In "retrograde amnesia", the person loses the memories of the period prior to the trauma.
"antegrade amnesia" is an as yet not fully understood condition.
Three areas in the brain namely
- medial temporal lobes and
- basal forebrain
apart from other areas are thought to play a role in the genesis of this disorder.
Recovery is generally unpredictable (time to recovery as well as the extent).