Irreversible blindness after amyl nitrite inhalation.
OBJECTIVE
To present a case of blinding bilateral acute optic nerve disease in a 15-year-old male apparently induced by inhalation of amyl nitrite.


METHODS
Sequentially over four days he lost his four altitudinal visual hemifields, leaving atrophic discs and only 2/60 and a small field in the better eye. Scannings by CT and MRI and a full laboratory research gave no specific clue to the pathogenesis.


CONCLUSIONS
No similar cases have been described in the more than 100-year history of pharmacological use of amyl nitrite for angina pectoris, and pharmacologically it is hard to point out a rationale behind the sequential visual loss As an alternative to frank toxicity, therefore, we have considered a parainfectious mechanism as related to an influenza-like disease immediately prior to the abuse episode.
Fledelius
H C
HC
Rigshospitalet, University Eye Dept., Copenhagen, Denmark.
D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000293:Adolescent; D000680:Amyl Nitrite / Q000506:poisoning*; D001766:Blindness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014794:Visual Fields
D000680:Amyl Nitrite