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The patient in this case presented the unusual combination of optic atrophy in one eye, uveitis with a cecocentral scotoma in the other eye, lymphocytosis in the spinal fluid and neurologic evidence of an intracranial lesion. Of the various diagnostic possibilities (Devic's disease, disseminated sclerosis, Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome), basal arachnoiditis seemed to explain best the entire entity.
J. S., a man aged 21, had had optic atrophy of the right eye eight years previously, for no apparent reason. Eight months prior to admission, the patient had experienced symptoms in the left eye for the first time. These consisted of black spots.
His corrected visual acuity at this time was found to be 3/150 in the right eye and 6/9 — in the left eye. On examination, the right eye showed primary optic atrophy but was otherwise normal. The left eye showed a diffuse type of uveitis. The cornea was studded with