title: [Cerebral blindness].
abstract: In two patients, a 60-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, cerebral blindness was diagnosed. The first patient developed the disorder shortly after cerebral angiography was carried out to diagnose a carotid-cavernous fistula. The symptoms disappeared after three days. The second patient suffered from a reversible posterior leuko-encephalopathy syndrome. He recovered his vision without specific treatment. Cortical or cerebral blindness is a form of blindness caused by a lesion in the cerebral part of the visual pathways. Although in itself rare, cerebral blindness occurs frequently as a complication of non-neurologic diseases or interventions. Physicians who are unaware of this syndrome tend to diagnose these patients as 'hysteric', since normal pupillary reactions and normal eye movements accompany the loss of vision. If the blindness is not caused by an ischaemic infarct, it is usually reversible.
authors.affiliation: Academisch Ziekenhuis, afd. Neurologie, Postbus 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht. wweb@sneu.azm.nl
authors.forename: W E J
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D019575:Blindness, Cortical / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D020216:Carotid-Cavernous Sinus Fistula / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002533:Cerebral Angiography / Q000009:adverse effects; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000150:complications*; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012025:Reflex, Pupillary; D013577:Syndrome