title: Acute bilateral blindness.
abstract: Acute bilateral blindness is an emergent condition that may signal life-threatening disease. This article details an emergency medicine approach to the patient with acute bilateral blindness, and reports a case of an elderly woman whose sole presenting complaint was acute loss of vision. She was ultimately diagnosed as having pulmonary embolism. The approach focuses on identification of life-threatening disease processes, while differentiating between ocular, psychogenic, and cortical etiologies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Joint Military Medical Centers, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX, USA. bhoover64@aol.com
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Hoover
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Stack
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D014859:Warfarin / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D014859:Warfarin