Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology, September 1990, Volume 10, Issue 3

Pseudo-Foster Kennedy syndrome in a patient with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy and a nonbasal glioma.

A 49-year-old woman with a 6-year history of headaches was found to have a pale right optic disc with narrowed retinal arterioles and a congested left optic disc. Her visual acuity was 20/20 in each eye with normal visual fields in May 1983. These findings were attributed to a previous attack of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION). She had a normal neurologic examination and a normal head computed tomographic (CT) scan performed 2 years prior to her initial ophthalmologic evaluation. She was followed over the next 2 years without change in her fundus examination. In December 1987, after a generalized tonic-clonic seizure, she was found to have a large right frontoparietal mass without direct impingement on the optic nerves, or chiasm on neuroradiological studies. At this time she developed marked papilledema in the left eye with a pale optic disc in the right eye remaining unchanged. Histopathological diagnosis of malignant glioma was made. Two diseases, ischemic optic neuropathy and glioma, in one patient represents a bizarre example of the pseudo-Foster Kennedy syndrome.