[Retinal vein periphlebitis - frequency, occurrence and diagnostic significance].

Among 15,000 neuroophthalmological patients examined in the years 1963 to 1977, 51 showed periphlebitic changes of the retinal veins. 46 of these patients were known to suffer from multiple sclerosis (MS). From his results that changes of the fundus of the eye are associated with a high degree of probability (about 90 per cent) with multiple sclerosis. In the same period of time, 422 patients were found to suffer from MS. From this one can calculate the relative frequency of periphlebitic changes of the retinal veins in MS cases to be about 10.9 per cent. Apart from their diagnostic importance, the findings are also interesting because they may indicate the significance of periphlebitic changes in the etiopathogenesis of MS.