Lost Key Syndrome

The official designation of the Lost Key Syndrome is Dysexecutive Syndrome. It consists cf a group of symptoms, usually resulting from brain damage to the frontal lobe. The syndrome describes a common pattern of dysfunction in functions, such as planning, abstract thinking, flexibility and behavioural control. Although many of the symptoms regularly co-occur, it is common to encounter patients who have several, but not all symptoms.

Patients are left wondering whether these symptoms are the result of their brain injury, whether they are just a result of the patient is getting older, or whether they simply lost their keys for the umpteenth time.

These symptoms that fall into cognitive, behavioural and emotional categories and tend to occur together. Many of the symptoms can be seen as a direct result of impairment to the central executive component of working memory, which is responsible for attentional control and inhibition.

The Lost Key Syndrome often seems to occur with other disorders, such as schizophrenia, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, meningitis and chronic alcoholism[1].

Assessment of patients with the Lost Key Syndrome can be difficult because traditional tests generally focus on one specific problem for a short period of time. People with Lost Key Syndrome can do fairly well on these tests because their problems are related to integrating individual skills into everyday tasks. The lack of everyday application of traditional tests is known as low ecological validity.

There is no cure for individuals with the Lost Key Syndrome, but there are several therapies to help them cope with their symptoms in everyday life.

[1] Abbruzzese et al: Persistent dysexecutive syndrome after pneumococcal meningitis complicated by recurrent ischemic strokes: A case report in World Journal of Clinical Diseases - 2023