Posthypoxic encephalopathy syndrome (posthypoxic syndrome; parietooccipital syndrome)

General: Hypoxia secondary to carbon monoxide poisoning, high altitude, complication durin 424b18e g anesthesia, hypoglycemia, or cardiac failure, causing widespread demyelination in the parietal lobes, including the optic radiations.

Ocular: Nystagmus; nuclear ophthalmoplegia; visual hallucinations; partial cerebral blindness (predominant defects in the sphere of psychic elaboration rather than in primary visual perception); complete cortical blindness; central scotomata; pupillary paresis; retinal atrophy; optic atrophy.

Clinical: Confusion; irritability and agitation; alexia; disorientation (mainly spatial); muscle spasm.

Freedman A, Sevel D. The cerebro-ocular effects of carbon dioxide poisoning. Arch Ophthalmol 1966; 76:59.

Hoyt WF, Walsh FB. Cortical blindness with partial recovery following acute cerebral anoxia from cardiac arrest. Arch Ophthalmol 1958;60:1061.

Wechsler IS. Partial cortical blindness with preservation of color vision. Report of a case following asphyxia (carbon monoxide poisoning?): a consideration of the question of color vision and its cortical localization. Arch Ophthalmol 1933; 9:957.