[Several patients with memory disorders].

In three patients, referred to a memory clinic because of memory impairment, three different types of memory dysfunction were observed: a deficit in encoding of new episodic memories, a relatively pure loss of semantic memory and an impairment in retrieval of stored information. These patients were diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer's disease, semantic dementia and frontotemporal dementia respectively. The diagnosis was essential in determining the individual management strategy.