Mesolimbocortical Dementia

The term "limbic dementia" has been proposed to describe the cognitive and behavioral changes resulting from damage to those brain regions that comprise the limbic system: Cingulate and parahippocampal gyri, hippocampal formation, amygdala, hypothalamus, and dorsomedial and other thalamic nuclei.1The disorder is clinically characterized by amnesia in combination with elements of the Klüver-Bucy syndrome,2particularly hyperphagia, distractability, and hypersexuality, and its pathologic substrate rests in the selective and complete destruction of limbic structures and their connections. Certain elements of the disorder, such as the amnestic syndrome, have been produced with partial limbic involvement by a wide variety of disease processes, including acute necrotizing herpes simplex encephalitis,3,4cerebrovascular insults,5,6neoplastic invasion,7paraneoplastic effects,8,9surgical lesions,10and inflammatory reactions of uncertain origin.11Careful study of these cases has permitted valuable insight into the importance of the limbic system for both emotional behavior