Trip to dentist left British man with 90-minute memory, study says
Published Wednesday, July 15, 2015 3:45PM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, July 15, 2015 4:30PM EDT
A British man lost the ability to create new memories after going to the dentist for a routine root canal, according to a recently published study.
Notes from this "astonishing" case were recently published in the journal Neurocase.
After undergoing a root canal procedure in March, 2005, the 38-year-old man lost the ability to remember anything beyond 90 minutes, meaning he can't make any new memories, the University of Leicester said in a statement.
Each morning, the man wakes up believing it is the same day in 2005 that he went to the dentist.
Gerald Burgess, the study's lead author and lecturer at university, said his team has "never seen anything like it before." The man was referred to Burgess as a patient almost 10 years ago, when Burgess was working as a clinical psychologist. Throughout the study the patient is referred to as “WO.”
The year of the procedure, WO was a member of the U.K. military and was stationed in Germany. He had joined the army at the age of 17, served in the first Gulf War, and married at the age of 22. He and his wife have two children, the study said.
Burgess said WO was not injured during the root canal, and has no history of mental illness or mood disturbance.
On the day of the surgery, WO was injected with an anesthetic before the procedure started. When the surgery was completed, it became "apparent that WO was pale and faint, and could not get himself up," the study said.
Records from the day of the procedure note that he was "vacant" and had "slow speech." He was eventually taken to the hospital as his condition did not improve.
Over the course of the next month, it was determined that WO had only a 10-minute memory span, which eventually improved to 90 minutes.
He was later assessed for any brain damage, but his CT and MRI scans came back normal, the study said.
Every day is the day of the appointment
Eventually WO and his family moved back to his childhood home in the U.K. According to the study, he recognizes his home, places in his hometown and the general geography of the town.
However, he still wakes up every day believing that it's the same day of the appointment.
"In general, each morning he is surprised to wake up in his mother's house. He wakes up believing that he should still be in the military, stationed abroad," the study said. "Every day he thinks it is the day of the dental appointment."
According to the study, WO can still recall events that happened in his life up to the day of the root canal. He can even remember receiving the anesthetic and the moment the dentist began drilling. But anything that has happened to him since, he can only retain in his memory for about 90 minutes.
Now, WO relies on the help of his wife and an electronic diary to keep track of his daily activities.
While his wife reports "subtle differences" in his personality, including becoming more easily frustrated and intolerant, WO is aware of his own identity and that of his family, the study said. (He expects, however, everyone to still be the age they were in 2005).
The study added that WO is aware that he has a memory problem, but requires his wife to answer questions about events that have happened since March, 2005.
Appeal to the public
Burgess speculates that WO's memory loss may be related to the structures and networks of the nervous system. These networks are altered whenever a new experience is stored in our memory.
As an experience is being stored, new proteins are created to help form the new shape of these networks. If something gets in the way of the protein formation, the human memory becomes fragile.
"Something can occur at some later point in this process to vanquish the memory trace permanently," Burgess said in a statement.
He said this hypothesis was sparked because protein synthesis takes about 90 minutes – the same amount of time that WO can retain a memory.
Now, Burgess is appealing for anyone with knowledge of similar cases to contact him so he can further investigate. This is why he published the case notes, he said.
"One of our reasons for writing up this individual’s case was that we had never seen anything like this before in our assessment clinics, and we do not know what to make of it, but felt an honest reporting of the facts as we assessed them was warranted, that perhaps there will be other cases, or people who know more than we do about what might have caused the patient’s amnesia," he said in a statement.
He stressed that at this time it would be "unethical" to blame the anesthetic or root canal for the memory loss.
UK man loses ability to create new memories after root canal: study | CTV News
Groundhog day from hell!8O
Published Wednesday, July 15, 2015 3:45PM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, July 15, 2015 4:30PM EDT
A British man lost the ability to create new memories after going to the dentist for a routine root canal, according to a recently published study.
Notes from this "astonishing" case were recently published in the journal Neurocase.
After undergoing a root canal procedure in March, 2005, the 38-year-old man lost the ability to remember anything beyond 90 minutes, meaning he can't make any new memories, the University of Leicester said in a statement.
Each morning, the man wakes up believing it is the same day in 2005 that he went to the dentist.
Gerald Burgess, the study's lead author and lecturer at university, said his team has "never seen anything like it before." The man was referred to Burgess as a patient almost 10 years ago, when Burgess was working as a clinical psychologist. Throughout the study the patient is referred to as “WO.”
The year of the procedure, WO was a member of the U.K. military and was stationed in Germany. He had joined the army at the age of 17, served in the first Gulf War, and married at the age of 22. He and his wife have two children, the study said.
Burgess said WO was not injured during the root canal, and has no history of mental illness or mood disturbance.
On the day of the surgery, WO was injected with an anesthetic before the procedure started. When the surgery was completed, it became "apparent that WO was pale and faint, and could not get himself up," the study said.
Records from the day of the procedure note that he was "vacant" and had "slow speech." He was eventually taken to the hospital as his condition did not improve.
Over the course of the next month, it was determined that WO had only a 10-minute memory span, which eventually improved to 90 minutes.
He was later assessed for any brain damage, but his CT and MRI scans came back normal, the study said.
Every day is the day of the appointment
Eventually WO and his family moved back to his childhood home in the U.K. According to the study, he recognizes his home, places in his hometown and the general geography of the town.
However, he still wakes up every day believing that it's the same day of the appointment.
"In general, each morning he is surprised to wake up in his mother's house. He wakes up believing that he should still be in the military, stationed abroad," the study said. "Every day he thinks it is the day of the dental appointment."
According to the study, WO can still recall events that happened in his life up to the day of the root canal. He can even remember receiving the anesthetic and the moment the dentist began drilling. But anything that has happened to him since, he can only retain in his memory for about 90 minutes.
Now, WO relies on the help of his wife and an electronic diary to keep track of his daily activities.
While his wife reports "subtle differences" in his personality, including becoming more easily frustrated and intolerant, WO is aware of his own identity and that of his family, the study said. (He expects, however, everyone to still be the age they were in 2005).
The study added that WO is aware that he has a memory problem, but requires his wife to answer questions about events that have happened since March, 2005.
Appeal to the public
Burgess speculates that WO's memory loss may be related to the structures and networks of the nervous system. These networks are altered whenever a new experience is stored in our memory.
As an experience is being stored, new proteins are created to help form the new shape of these networks. If something gets in the way of the protein formation, the human memory becomes fragile.
"Something can occur at some later point in this process to vanquish the memory trace permanently," Burgess said in a statement.
He said this hypothesis was sparked because protein synthesis takes about 90 minutes – the same amount of time that WO can retain a memory.
Now, Burgess is appealing for anyone with knowledge of similar cases to contact him so he can further investigate. This is why he published the case notes, he said.
"One of our reasons for writing up this individual’s case was that we had never seen anything like this before in our assessment clinics, and we do not know what to make of it, but felt an honest reporting of the facts as we assessed them was warranted, that perhaps there will be other cases, or people who know more than we do about what might have caused the patient’s amnesia," he said in a statement.
He stressed that at this time it would be "unethical" to blame the anesthetic or root canal for the memory loss.
UK man loses ability to create new memories after root canal: study | CTV News
Groundhog day from hell!8O
