Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0344232 (blurred vision)
 2,072 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Although visual changes are considered a common finding in Type II altitude-related decompression sickness (DCS), the specific symptoms have not been described. To better understand the visual symptomatology of neurologic DCS, 38 cases of neurologic DCS that identified visual changes (on file at the Davis Hyperbaric Medicine Laboratory, Brooks AFB, TX) were reviewed. Information obtained from each record included date of treatment, patient age and sex, exposure environment, maximum altitude, onset time of symptoms, clinical manifestations, treatment table type and results of therapy. Most cases (87%) resulted from altitude chamber exposure. Visual changes were reported as the initial symptom in 24% of cases, with blurred vision the most common manifestation. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment produced completely successful results in 97% of the cases. A better understanding of visual changes that occur in neurologic DCS will, we hope, lead to early diagnosis and treatment, reducing the potential for severe secondary effects and residual deficits.
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PMID:Visual manifestations of neurologic decompression sickness. 798 Mar 34

This case report describes a 20-yr-old man who presented with retro-orbital pain and blurred vision in his left eye 3 wk after an altitude exposure in a hypobaric chamber. He was found to have significant deficits in color vision and visual fields consistent with an optic neuropathy in his left eye. The patient was diagnosed with decompression sickness and treated with hyperbaric oxygen with a U.S. Navy Treatment Table VI. All signs and symptoms resolved with a single hyperbaric oxygen treatment but recurred. A head MRI revealed a left frontoethmoid sinus opacity. A concomitant sinusitis was diagnosed. The patient had full resolution of symptoms after a total of four hyperbaric oxygen treatments and antibiotic therapy at 6-wk follow-up. Although a para-infectious etiology for this patient's optic neuropathy cannot be excluded, his history of altitude exposure and significant, rapid response to hyperbaric oxygen treatment strongly implies decompression sickness in this case.
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PMID:Optic neuropathy following an altitude exposure. 1450 79