Brief Report: Transient Monocular Blindness Caused by Vasospasm

Many observers also regard transient monocular losses of vision in healthy children or young adults as benign events.11, 13, 20, 22, 23 On the basis of the similarly uneventful courses in our patients, we believe that some of the idiopathic episodes of transient monocular visual loss and some of the episodes in children may result from vasospasm. Vasospasm is well recognized in several pathologic states.24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 32 33 34 35 36 37 In subarachnoid hemorrhage and variant angina, vasospasm has been demonstrated angiographically.24 25 26, 29, 30 Temporary vasospasm offers a plausible and attractive explanation for complicated migraine and transient cerebral ischemic attacks. Simultaneous multivessel coronary artery spasm demonstrated by quantitative analysis of thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography. [Image Omitted: See PDF] From the Souers Stroke Institute of the Department of Neurology (S.K.B., J.B.S.) and the Department of Ophthalmology (J.B.S.), St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and the Departments of Neurology (R.F.S., S.E.T.) and Ophthalmology (R.F.S., S.E.T.), the Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pa.