Performance in free recall following rupture and repair of intracranial aneurysm.

There have been many reports of global memory disorder following rupture and repair of intracranial aneurysms. These reports suggest a more anterior basis for the amnesic syndrome than the various sites in the diencephalon and the temporal lobe that have so far been implicated. Patients from a consecutive series of 76 cases of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage demonstrated a moderate deficit in free recall, but aneurysms at different sites within the cerebrovascular system did not produce significantly different degrees of impairment. The results are consistent with the idea that aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage gives rise to diffuse cerebral damage, and do not necessitate any revision of conventionally accepted accounts of the neuropathology of amnesic conditions.