Ocular Phenomena Produced by Basal Lesions of the Frontal Lobe

In a series of eighty-six definitely proved lesions of the frontal lobe examined in the Mayo Clinic, thirteen were situated in the basal portion of either one or both frontal lobes. In these thirteen cases a definite ophthalmologic syndrome was revealed. Wilbrand and Saenger¹reported several cases of tumor of the frontal lobe with unilateral choked disks, but emphasis was not placed on ophthalmologic observations, and unfortunately perimetric fields were not described. They also report having noted a basal lesion of the frontal lobe with a unilateral choked disk, and mention having seen several other similar cases, but again the perimetric fields were not mentioned. It was not until Kennedy,²in 1911, reported six cases of basal lesion of the frontal lobe that the value of the ophthalmologic data as an exact diagnostic syndrome was properly emphasized. He found "a true retrobulbar neuritis with the formation of a