Question:medium
A 60 year old man had undergone cardiac bypass surgery 2 days back. Now he started forgetting things and was not able to recall the names and phone numbers of his relatives. What is the probable diagnosis?
A 60 year old man had undergone cardiac bypass surgery 2 days back. Now he started forgetting things and was not able to recall the names and phone numbers of his relatives. What is the probable diagnosis?
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Acute memory loss days after bypass surgery equals post-operative cognitive dysfunction.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Depression
- Post-traumatic psychosis
- Cognitive dysfunction
- Alzheimer's disease
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The pivotal clue is timing: new forgetfulness emerging only two days after open-heart surgery. That short interval is what steers the diagnosis.
Cardiac bypass is a classic trigger for post-operative cognitive dysfunction, where older patients develop memory and attention deficits soon after surgery, attributed to factors such as cerebral microemboli, hypoperfusion during $cardiopulmonary\ bypass$ and the effects of anaesthesia. Losing the ability to recall relatives' names and numbers right after the operation is a textbook presentation.
The other options fail the time test or the symptom test. Alzheimer's is a slow, years-long neurodegeneration and cannot appear over forty-eight hours. Depression dampens concentration but would not produce this abrupt, isolated recall failure tied to surgery. Post-traumatic psychosis would bring psychotic features like hallucinations or delusions, none of which are described.
So an acute post-surgical memory disturbance in an elderly bypass patient is best labelled cognitive dysfunction.
\[\boxed{Cognitive\ dysfunction}\]
Cardiac bypass is a classic trigger for post-operative cognitive dysfunction, where older patients develop memory and attention deficits soon after surgery, attributed to factors such as cerebral microemboli, hypoperfusion during $cardiopulmonary\ bypass$ and the effects of anaesthesia. Losing the ability to recall relatives' names and numbers right after the operation is a textbook presentation.
The other options fail the time test or the symptom test. Alzheimer's is a slow, years-long neurodegeneration and cannot appear over forty-eight hours. Depression dampens concentration but would not produce this abrupt, isolated recall failure tied to surgery. Post-traumatic psychosis would bring psychotic features like hallucinations or delusions, none of which are described.
So an acute post-surgical memory disturbance in an elderly bypass patient is best labelled cognitive dysfunction.
\[\boxed{Cognitive\ dysfunction}\]
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