Memory Loss (Amnesia): Examination

A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:

• General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; further:
  • Inspection (viewing).
    • Skin and mucous membranes
• Neurological examination – including motor and sensory function testing[due todifferential diagnoses:
  • Delir
  • Epilepsy, severe
  • Dementia (e.g., due toAlzheimer’s disease, hypothyroidism (hypothyroidism), multi-infarct dementia).
  • Complex-partial seizures – form of epilepsy.
  • Limbic encephalitis – brain inflammation affecting the limbic system]
• Psychiatric examination[due todifferential diagnoses:
  • Alcohol abuse (alcohol dependence).
  • Depression
  • Personality disorder
  • Psychogenic memory disorders
  • Somatoform disorder/stress
• Health Check

Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.