[A case of amnesia caused by a subcortical hematoma in the left retrosplenial region].

A 54-year-old right-handed woman suffered transient aphasia and persistent amnesia caused by a subcortical hematoma in the left occipital lobe. She appeared to have aphasia, although it disappeared within 3 weeks. It is noteworthy that she had a lesion in the left retrosplenial region but exhibited both verbal and non-verbal memory impairment. However, her intelligence, remote memory and digit span were normal. She had no topographic disturbance. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a subcortical hematoma in the left occipital lobe including the retrosplenial region. Single photon emission CT showed a low perfusion area in the retrosplenial region and in the left thalamus. We concluded that the retrosplenial amnesia might be caused by the interruption of hippocampal input into the anterior thalamus.