Simultanagnosia as a cause of visual disturbance following Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES): A case report

Eyes on CVI: Eye movements unveil distinct visual search patterns in Cerebral Visual Impairment compared to ADHD, dyslexia, and neurotypical children

Visual search problems are often reported in children with Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI). To tackle the clinical challenge of objectively differentiating CVI from other neurodevelopmental disorders, we developed a novel test battery. Visual search tasks were coupled with verbal and gaze-based measurements. Two search tasks were performed by children with CVI (n: 22; mean age (SD): 9.63 (.46) years) ADHD (n: 32; mean age (SD): 10.51 (.25) years), dyslexia (n: 28; mean age (SD): 10.29 (.20) years) and neurotypical development (n: 44; mean age (SD): 9.30 (.30) years). Children with CVI had more impaired search performance compared to all other groups, especially in crowded and unstructured displays and even when they had normal visual acuity. In-depth gaze-based analyses revealed that this group searched in overall larger areas and needed more time to recognize a target, particularly after their initial fixation on the target. Our gaze-based approach to visual search offers new insights into the distinct search patterns and behaviours of children with CVI. Their tendency to overlook targets whilst fixating on it, point towards higher-order visual function (HOVF) deficits. The novel method is feasible, valid, and promising for clinical differential-diagnostic evaluation between CVI, ADHD and dyslexia, and for informing individualized training.

Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome in the Immediate Postoperative Period of Gastric Cancer

A 55-year-old female was referred to the Department of Ophthalmology with complaints of bilateral loss of vision. She had undergone subtotal gastrectomy with gastrojejunostomy and lymphadenectomy for poorly differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma in the antropyloric region the day before. On the first postoperative day, she complained of generalised weakness, drowsiness, altered sensorium, and acute, painless, bilateral loss of vision. Ocular examination revealed visual acuity as no perception of light, bilaterally, and normal pupillary light reflexes. Anterior and posterior segment examination was within normal limits. This clinical presentation of altered sensorium and cortical blindness along with characteristic radiological findings (hyperintensity on T2/fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequence involving the bilateral parieto-occipital lobe extending in asymmetric fashion to the bilateral cerebellum, brainstem, and thalami predominantly involving the white matter with few areas of diffusion restriction on diffusion-weighted imaging sequence predominantly on the left side with gyriform pattern) confirmed the diagnosis of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). In cancer patients, PRES has been reported in patients on chemotherapy regimen or two weeks after surgery for gastric cancer. Here, we want to draw attention to the fact that PRES may develop in the immediate postoperative period of gastric cancer surgery, as seen in our case.

From vision to cognition: potential contributions of cerebral visual impairment to neurodevelopmental disorders

Vision has a crucial role to play in human development and functioning. It is, therefore, not surprising that vision plays a fundamental role in the development of the child. As a consequence, an alteration in visual function is, therefore, likely to hinder the child's development. Although ocular disorders are well known, diagnosed and taken into account, cerebral visual impairments (CVI) resulting from post-chiasmatic damage are largely underdiagnosed. However, among the disorders resulting from an episode of perinatal asphyxia and/or associated with prematurity, or neonatal hypoglycaemia, CVIs are prominent. In this article, we focus on the role of the possible effects of CVI on a child's learning abilities, leading to major difficulty in disentangling the consequences of CVI from other neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although we focus here on the possible overlap between children with CVI and children with other NDD, De Witt et al. (Wit et al. Ear Hear 39:1-19, 2018) have raised exactly the same question regarding children with auditory processing disorders (the equivalent of CVI in the auditory modality). We underline how motor, social and cognitive development as well as academic success can be impaired by CVI and raise the question of the need for systematic evaluation for disorders of vision, visual perception and cognition in all children presenting with a NDD and/or previously born under adverse neurological conditions.

Ophthalmological symptoms in a patient with reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome: a case report

Background

Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome is characterized by severe headache with reversible segmental constriction of the cerebral arteries. We present details on a patient with reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome who initially visited an ophthalmologist because of visual symptoms.

Case presentation

A 34-year-old Japanese woman complained of sustained headache and insomnia starting 2 days after her first childbirth. In addition to the severe headache, a visual field defect was also observed 10 days later. Best corrected visual acuity at the initial visit was 20/20 and 20/25 for the right and left eye, respectively. Exudative retinal detachment was noted surrounding both optic heads. Visual field testing revealed left homonymous hemianopsia, while magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated the presence of edema and infarction of the bilateral basal nuclei and right occipital lobe. The homonymous hemianopsia and exudative retinal detachment recovered immediately after treatment with a free-radical scavenger and anticoagulant. There has been no recurrence of symptoms during the 4 years of follow-up.

Conclusions

We report a case of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome with ophthalmological symptoms that were reversible, including serous retinal detachment and homonymous hemianopsia.