Altitudinal anopsia following thoracoplasty.

Abstract

A case of bilateral inferior altitudinal anopsia is presented because of its infrequency and its sudden onset following a major operation. Anoxia of the superior lip of the calcarine fissure bilaterally is suggested as the probable cause. L. R. L., a business man aged 45, white, was referred by Dr. Seymour Farber because of poor vision following a second-stage thoracoplasty three and one-half months earlier. There was a past history of syphilis in 1931, which was treated for one year with arsphenamine and cured, He also gave a history of being on a starvation diet in a Japanese prison camp from 1942 to 1945. Pulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed in 1949, and, after a year in the Hassler Health Home, he was transferred to the San Francisco Hospital for surgical treatment. On Aug. 16, 1950, a first-stage thoracoplasty was performed, with the use of nitrous oxideether anesthesia. The operation took four