title: Functional amaurosis: diagnostic value of electronystagmography.
abstract: Hysterical and malingered blindness may be distinguished from organic ocular and cortical blindness by a variety of clinical and electrophysiological tests. This report discusses the limitations of these tests and emphasizes the objective superiority of a new test which utilizes the electronystagmographic technique. This test is based on the principle that visual input blocks nystagmus induced by vestibular stimulations: the presence of nystagmus suppression will indicate that blindness is either hysterical or malingered.
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D002150:Caloric Tests; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004584:Electronystagmography / Q000379:methods*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D007046:Hysteria / Q000150:complications; D008306:Malingering / Q000150:complications; D012025:Reflex, Pupillary; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests