Although the alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome (AK syndrome) is regarded as a fairly pure memory disorder, it is not homogenous but includes cases in which psychological dysfunction is marked. Whereas the memory defects have always been regarded as central, opinion has been divided as to the status of the other components of the syndrome. Intellectual functions measured by standardized IQ tests are said to be relatively intact, the AK patients usually diagnosed by psychiatrist show a wide variety of IQ. These defects certainly contribute to the patient's severe memory problems. In this paper the authors presented a patient who showed a gross defect of memory with remarkably good preservation of general intellectual capacity. He developed the AK syndrome at the age of 52, and has showed persistent amnesia and apathy in the subsequent 8 years. The only cognitive deficit other than the memory disorder was revealed by the New Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, which showed a defective pattern similar to that of patients with frontal mediobasal lesions. Patients with the AK syndrome in general show a variety of cognitive defects, and a fairly pure disorder of the memory as in the present case is rarely observed. The authors suggested that future studies aimed at discovering the nature of the memory dysfunction in the AK syndrome should be focused on such ‘pure’ cases.

View full abstract