Cortical blindness after complicated general anesthesia in urological surgery

Patient: Male, 4 Final Diagnosis: Cortical blindness after complicated general anesthesia Symptoms: Blindness • fine motor activity derangements Medication: — Clinical Procedure: General anesthesia for unilateral inguinal hydrocelectomy Specialty: Anesthesiology OBJECTIVE: Rare disease BACKGROUND: We report a case of transient cortical blindness after urological surgery. CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 4-year-old boy with visual loss following complicated general anesthesia during urological surgery. The results of ophthalmological examinations were normal. The complication was diagnosed as cortical blindness after obtaining an extinguished flash visual-evoked potential (flash VEP). The visual acuity persisted to be hand motion after 4 months. CONCLUSIONS: We report a very rare case of cortical blindness after urological surgery. Unrecognized causes of cortical blindness are common in the children. Because of the long survival and increasing surgical management in this age group, it is of great importance and perhaps it will be necessary to alert parents about it. Anesthesiologists have a unique opportunity to facilitate positive outcomes for these patients through risk identification and appropriate management.