Background: Handmann was the first to describe the morning glory syndrome in 6 cases in 1929. In 1970 Kindler published some cases with an "unusual congenital anomaly of the optic disc". Since then, several authors have come to the conclusion that both authors described the same disease.
Patients and methods: In January 2000, morning glory syndrome was diagnosed in two patients, mother and daughter. Ophthalmological and electrophysiological examinations, further brain scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the orbit were performed.
Results: Malformation of the optic disc was bilateral in both cases. Optic disc abnormality was accompanied by no other anomalies or malformations. Ultrasound examination and MRI of the orbit did not detect posterior staphyloma in our cases. Thus, our two patients are the first to be described in the literature, where the anomaly of the optic disc occurred in isolation.
Discussion: Our cases are different from those described in the literature as far as the characteristic anomaly of the optic disc was bilateral and the occurrence was genetical. It is also noteworthy that no other ophthalmological or general malformations could be detected in our patients besides the anomaly of the optic disc. Morning glory syndrome occurred in isolation, which makes our cases unique.