A 71-year-old woman suffering from liver cirrhosis, underwent gastrointestinal endoscopy. Just after the examination, she had lost the memory of having undergone the examination due to retrograde amnesia, and was disoriented in regard to time and place. She asked a nurse repeatedly in bewilderment,“What am I doing?”“Why am I in this hospital?”. Her situation was explained to her, and was understood, but the answer provided was forgotten within moments due to anterograde amnesia, and once again repeatedly asked the same questions. She could answer her name, birthday, and the name of her physician in charge correctly. But she had lost her memory between the evening before and the moment she finished the examination. Her consciousness was clear, and neurological examinations were normal. Then transient global amnesia (TGA) , presumed to be precipitated by gastrointestinal endoscopy, was diagnosed. The next morning, about 19 hours after the examination, she recovered form TGA. But ultimately, she had lost her memory of about half of the day she underwent the examination, with no neurological deficits. TGA is usually related to physical, emotional stress, and gastrointestinal endoscopy is a stressful examination for examinees. We must therefore be aware that gastrointestinal endoscopy is one of the precipitating events in TGA, and prepare examination circumstances such that nervousness felt by examinees can be significantly reduced.
