Doctors are warning about a rare neurological condition in women during the peripartum period after their 35-year-old patient developed transient vision loss following a caesarean section.

While her symptoms were mild at first, the team in Jamshedpur, India, said they were able to quickly diagnose posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) and prevent permanent damage.

The syndrome — which typically manifests as headaches, altered mental status, convulsions and loss of vision — was first described in 1996 and can occur in patients with a blood pressure “considerably lower” than that required to produce hypertensive encephalopathy.

In the present case, the woman was admitted for elective lower-segment C-section under subarachnoid block at 38 weeks’ gestation.