VASOSPASM ASSOCIATED WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Abstract

EIGHTEEN patients with multiple sclerosis were observed to show constrictions of some of the retinal arterioles. Scotomas were usually associated with the constrictions, and sometimes there was also a reduction in visual acuity. In most instances in which they were employed, fast-acting vasodilating drugs caused prompt, temporary reduction of the constrictions and of the size of the scotomas (sometimes to zero), and in several instances an increase of visual acuity as well. When sufficiently frequent observations could be made, many of the constrictions proved to be transient, appearing and disappearing over a period and often shifting from one vessel to another. Scotomas frequently were transient, too, disappearing from one part of the visual field and reappearing in another. The constrictions were interpreted as spasms.¹ PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS Case A. —The first case seen, that of a white man aged 30, was one of undiagnosed disease of the central nervous system.