Cerebral blindness in association with cis-platinum chemotherapy for advanced carcinoma of the fallopian tube

Abstract

A 62-year-old woman with a diagnosis of metastatic fallopian tube carcinoma was treated with cis-platinum and doxorubicin (Adriamycin) at a dosage of 50 mg/m2 intravenously every 3 weeks. After the 10th course of cis-platinum and doxorubicin, she complained of headache and inability to see. Physical examination was compatible with cortical blindness. The brain scan and computed tomographic scan were normal. Visual evoked potentials showed a delay in latency. Visual acuity completely returned over the next months, but right homonymous hemianopia persists. The temporal relationship between the findings and the treatment with platinum implicates this drug as the possible causative agent in the cortical blindness.