They include Brain infections Brain tumors Cardiac arrest Head trauma HIV infection Unusually long seizures Certain types of stroke Overuse of certain drugs (including alcohol) Evaluation of Memory Loss The highest priority when evaluating memory loss is To identify delirium and other reversible causes, which require rapid treatment The evaluation then focuses on distinguishing the few cases of mild cognitive impairment and early dementia from the greater number with age-associated memory impairment or simply normal forgetfulness.