Blood flow
A SPECT scan of Bolzan's brain showed that he had no blood flow to his right temporal lobe—the part of the brain that stores long-term memory. Blood flow to the front of his brain on both sides is also dramatically reduced. He suffered brain atrophy, which killed brain cells and damaged connections between them. The loss of blood flow caused Bolzan to suffer an unusually severe case of retrograde amnesia. Dr. Teresa Lanier, Bolzan's primary physician, has said "It would basically have to be a miracle for him to one day wake up and have complete and intact memory of everything he has lost. That's probably just never going to happen."