Retinal Phlebitis and Sinus Disease.

PHLEBITIS or periphlebitis of the retina manifests itself in various forms. Perhaps the commonest expression of the condition is represented by a line of events ending in gross recurrent vitreous haemorrhages (Eales'.s disease); but there are other forms varying from an inflammation of a smaller retinal tributary to an inflammation of the central retinal vein, in which case the clinical picture is that of central venous occlusion. The aetiology of the process is obscure. Tuberculosis has been considered to be the cause (Axenfeid and Stock, 1911; Gilbert 1913), but the general opinion now held is that the phlebitis is not an expression of a single disease but a clinical phenomenon common to several diseases (Ballantyne and Michaelson, 1937). In the literature few if any cases are attributed to infection of the paranasal sinuses, and therefore the following report of three cases in which this appears to have occurred may direct attention to a somewhat neglected possibility.