Right Anterior Thalamic Infarction Presenting Only with Cognitive Dysfunction

ABSTRACT

A 60 year-old right-handed man developed a sudden inability to find his way home from work. Neurologic examina-tions revealed no focal neurological deficit. Neuropsychological tests showed a memory deficit especially in the visu-ospatial domain along with visuospatial and frontal-executive dysfunction. A brain MRI revealed a small but discrete lesion in the right thalamus. The majority of the lesion was confined to the dorsomedial nucleus. These results suggest that a small unilateral thalamic infarction affecting the anterior area may be sufficient to produce "strategic-infarct dementia" without focal neurological deficit.