Triplopia: thirteen patients from a neurology inpatient service.
BACKGROUND
Seeing triple is a rare complaint, so anatomically unlikely that it is often considered a diagnostic symptom of hysteria.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the complaint of triple vision among a large group of neurological inpatients.


METHODS
Personal case series during a 34-year period.


METHODS
Neurology and neurosurgery wards of the University of Southern California-Los Angeles County Medical Center. Patients Thirteen patients who reported seeing objects in triplicate.


RESULTS
Eleven of 13 patients had ocular motor findings, including third nerve palsy in 5 patients, internuclear ophthalmoplegia in 4, and sixth nerve palsy in 2. Causes included brainstem infarction in 4 patients; ischemic mononeuropathy, trauma, surgery, and hysteria in 2 patients each; and tumor in 1 patient.


CONCLUSIONS
Triplopia is a rare complaint that, in a neurology inpatient service, often represents an unusual interpretation of abnormal eye movements.
Department of Neurology, University of Southern California Medical School, Los Angeles 90033, USA.
James R
JR
Keane
D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009462:Neurology; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology*