[Necrotizing retinitis in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis]

Between 1978 and 1982 the authors saw 5 patients (13, 14, 15, 24 and 28 years old) with SSPE. The first symptom was a sudden loss of visual acuity (unilateral in 3 patients and bilateral in 2). Four of the patients treated were suffering from necrotizing, central, partly hemorrhagic retinitis (not affecting the vitreous or the choroid). In the area affected by retinitis there was a residual "depression", and in some cases alterations of the retinal pigment epithelium indicative of tissue loss. In recognizing the early symptoms of this neuro-ophthalmological disease the ophthalmologist makes an important contribution to early diagnosis. In all 5 patients the diagnosis of SSPE was substantiated by the neurological course, the elevated measles titer and the cytoplasmic and nuclear antibodies counteracting SSPE antigen in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid.