Korsakoff's Syndrome

Abstract

Korsakoff's syndrome is a disorder in which memory deficits are disproportionate to other cognitive deficits. It is a form of amnesia which is primarily caused by thiamine depletion that is usually associated with chronic alcoholism, but also occasionally with malnutrition. The pathology underlying the memory disorder for postmorbidly experienced information is still controversial, but probably includes the mammillary bodies and midline thalamic structures such as the anterior, paratenial, and dorsomedial nuclei. Patients show reduced posterior as well as frontal cortex activation, although the relationship of this abnormality to their memory deficits remains to be fully explored. Like other amnesics, patients have disturbed memory for pre- as well as postmorbidly encountered facts and events, but only rarely confabulate except at the initial confusional stage of the disorder. There is little relationship between the severity of pre- and postmorbid memory deficits, and the disturbance of remote premorbid memory has been ascribed to a disorganization of retrieval, caused by frontal lobe dysfunction.