In 1981, Beal and Chapman1 reported a case of puerperal cortical blindness with seizures as the only manifestation of presumed cerebral venous thrombosis. We report the isolated occurrence of transient cerebral blindness in the postpartum period.
REPORT OF A CASE
A 33-year-old woman had a full-term infant delivered by cesarean section. Three days later, she began to have progressively severe frontal headaches. At 1 AM on the fifth day, she noted blurred vision and saw multicolored photopsias. She slept for six hours and awoke blind, able to see only hand motions. Her headache had diminished. Pupillary light reactions were normal. General physical and neurologic examination results were normal, except for brachial BP of 166/94 mm Hg.A contrast-enhanced computed tomographic (CT) scan of the brain showed patchy areas of hypodensity in both occipital lobes (Fig 1). Lumbar puncture showed clear and colorless CSF under normal pressure. A CSF examination