ABSTRACT
An otherwise healthy 35 year old male with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) presented himself three days after a single intranasal methamphetamine abusus. Directly upon awakening the day after the recreational use of this drug, he discovered an acute and severe visual loss of his right eye. This unilateral loss of vision was permanent and eventually lead to a pale and atrophic optic nerve head. The characteristics of this visual loss, together with the aspect of the optic nerve head was very similar to the classical non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). We suggest a direct ischemic episode to the short posterior ciliary arteries due to this single intranasal abuse of methamphetamine as the underlying pathogenesis of this acute and permanent visual loss.
Subject(s)
Blindness/chemically induced , Methamphetamine/administration & dosage , Optic Neuropathy, Ischemic/chemically induced , Substance-Related Disorders/complications , Administration, Inhalation , Adult , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/complications , Humans , Male , Methamphetamine/poisoningABSTRACT
The pathological study of the cerebral hemispheres and visual pathways in 32 cases of disseminated sclerosis, including 15 cases in which the retinal structures were investigated, lead us to point out: 1) the high frequency of histological lesions of the optic nerves, tracts and radiations; 2) the lack of correlation between the extent of demyelination of the optic nerves and the impairment of visual acuity that is mainly related to axonal lesions; 3) the relative high frequency of pathological sheathing of retinal veins; and 4) the high proportion of shadow plaques in the cerebral hemispheres in cases with clear-cut relapses and remissions.
