Objectives: Mamillary bodies play an important role in human memory and emotions. Vascular lesions causing an isolated mammillary body lesion without affecting the surrounding structures are very rare.
Methods: A 53-year-old male was brought to the emergency department with acute-onset memory problems suggestive of partial anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
Results: Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an isolated left mammillary body infarct sparing adjacent structures.
Conclusion: Mamillary bodies play an intrinsic role in memory formation and retrieval rather than acting as relay-only station for hippocampal projections. Non-hippocampal input from the limbic midbrain via the ventral tegmental nucleus of Gudden could be contributing to its function.
Keywords: Mammillary body; amnesia; infarct; magnetic resonance imaging; mamillothalamic tract.
Copyright © 2017 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.