Ophthalmoplegia plus: CSF and CT features of seven cases

The authors describe the clinical and laboratory results relative to 7 cases of Ophthalmoplegia Plus, with special reference to the histochemical, ultra-structural and CFS findings and to the data obtained by Computerized Tomography (CT) of the brain. The CSF was altered in all the examined patients: 3 out of 7 presented an abnormal albumin quotient, 1 patient had an increased IgG Index; the isoelectrofocusing of the CSF proteins, carried out in 6 out of 7 cases, showed an abnormal protein content referred to gamma trace in 3 cases, oligoclonal bands in the CSF in one case, a double Tau fraction in one case, a damaged blood-brain barrier in 5 cases. The CT-performed in 6 out of 7 cases-revealed in one patient a diffuse hypodensity of the periventricular white matter, without signs of atrophy; 2 cases showed a mild atrophy of the posterior fossa involving the cerebellar hemispheres and vermis in one case, the vermis and the brain stem in the other one; no patient revealed signs of cortical or ventricular atrophy. The boundaries of the Ophthalmoplegia Plus are here discussed on the ground of the results obtained by the employment of the various research methods.