Miners' Nystagmus Following Visual Deprivation: A Case Report
Authors: Salwa Kamourieh, Magdalena Sokolska, Harry Akram, Jay Patel, Hans Rolf Jäger, Qadeer Arshad, Manjit Matharu, Diego Kaski
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2021)

LettersJuly 2021Miners' Nystagmus Following Visual Deprivation: A Case ReportSalwa Kamourieh, PhD, Magdalena Sokolska, PhD, Harry Akram, MSc, Jay Patel, MSc, Hans Rolf Jäger, PhD, Qadeer Arshad, PhD, Manjit Matharu, PhD, Diego Kaski, PhDSalwa Kamourieh, PhDNational Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, United Kingdom, Magdalena Sokolska, PhDUCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom, Harry Akram, MScRoyal National Ear Nose and Throat & Eastman Dental Hospital, London, United Kingdom, Jay Patel, MScRoyal National Ear Nose and Throat & Eastman Dental Hospital, London, United Kingdom, Hans Rolf Jäger, PhDUCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom, Qadeer Arshad, PhDUniversity of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, Manjit Matharu, PhDNational Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, United Kingdom, Diego Kaski, PhDNational Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Royal National Ear Nose and Throat & Eastman Dental Hospital, and UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United KingdomAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L20-1261 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Background: Miners' nystagmus was first recognized in the 1870s in coal miners, in whom it developed after they spent years working underground (1). The incidence of nystagmus was estimated at 5% (2), and its addition to the schedule of industrial diseases in the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1906 embedded it into the legal—but not the medical—literature.The underlying cause of miners' nystagmus has remained contentious, with theoretical considerations suggesting a foveal inability to adapt to dark vision leading to nystagmus after years of working underground (3)—a similar mechanism to the irregular eye oscillation seen in adult patients with acquired vision ...References1. Renton JC. On a case of miner's nystagmus. Glasgow Med J. 1879;11:202-3. [PMID: 30433118] MedlineGoogle Scholar2. Ohm J. [The frequency as the most important characteristic of miner's nystagmus. II. The relations of the frequency to the age and duration of mining]. Albrecht Von Graefes Arch Ophthalmol. 1952;153:321-32. [PMID: 13040236] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Fishman RS. Dark as a dungeon: the rise and fall of coal miners' nystagmus. Arch Ophthalmol. 2006;124:1637-44. [PMID: 17102014] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. O'Sullivan F. Miner's Nystagmus: Its Symptoms, Etiology, and Treatment (With Notes on Fifty Cases). John Wright & Sons; 1933. Google Scholar5. Kaski D, Bronstein AM, Edwards MJ, et al. Cranial functional (psychogenic) movement disorders. Lancet Neurol. 2015;14:1196-205. [PMID: 26581970] doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(15)00226-4 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, United KingdomUCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United KingdomRoyal National Ear Nose and Throat & Eastman Dental Hospital, London, United KingdomUCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United KingdomUniversity of Leicester, Leicester, United KingdomNational Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, United KingdomNational Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Royal National Ear Nose and Throat & Eastman Dental Hospital, and UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United KingdomAcknowledgment: The authors thank the patient and her partner for allowing them to publish her story; the neuro-ophthalmology department at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, for performing visual assessments; and Professor David Zee for providing invaluable historical data.Financial Support: Professor Kaski is supported by a grant from the Ménierè's Society and by the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L20-1261.Corresponding Author: Diego Kaski, PhD, Department of Clinical and Motor Neurosciences, University College London, 5th Floor, 33 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; e-mail, d.[email protected]ac.uk.This article was published at Annals.org on 23 February 2021. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics July 2021Volume 174, Issue 7Page: 1021-1022KeywordsBehaviorBlood flowBrainCellsDisclosureMagnetic resonance imagingMigraineNystagmusSulfatesVision ePublished: 23 February 2021 Issue Published: July 2021 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2021 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...