An Unusual Variant of Acute Idiopathic Polyneuritis (Syndrome of Ophthalmoplegia, Ataxia and Areflexia)

TLDR

The study reports three cases of an acute neurological illness presenting with total external ophthalmoplegia, severe ataxia, and areflexia. All three patients displayed a strikingly similar syndrome of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia that, despite alarming presentation, followed a benign course, and the latest case showed a marked rise in cerebrospinal fluid protein. No additional information provided.

Abstract

THE purpose of this communication is to report 3 cases of an acute neurologic illness characterized among other features by total external ophthalmoplegia, severe ataxia and loss of the tendon reflexes. The clinical picture in all 3 cases was so similar as to constitute an easily recognizable syndrome. The presenting symptoms and signs were most alarming for the attending physician on each occasion — unnecessarily so, since the course of the illness appears to be benign. The cause of the syndrome was obscure until, in the most recent case, a great rise in the protein of the cerebrospinal fluid in . . .