Traumatic Optic Neuropathy Our Experience with Combined Therapy

Innovative Publication, 2016

Purpose: To study the clinical profile, prognostic factors and the effect of systemic steroids in the management of traumatic optic neuropathy. Materials and Method: A minimum of forty four patients with closed head injury with complaints of any of the following: decreased visual acquity following trauma, RAPD, defective colour vision, visual field defects or CT scan showing fracture of any orbital wall were selected randomly and detailed ocular examination was done. Patients were treated with IVMP. Results: Patient age ranged from 11-69 years. The causes of head injury were road traffic accidents (86.4%), accidental falls (9.1%), and assault (4.5%). Majority of patients were male (93.18%). Unilateral involvement was seen in 95.45% cases. 61.36% cases were drowsy, 36.36% cases conscious and 2.27% cases were unconscious after the injury. In this study 34.78% of patients had profound loss of vision PL+ or HM (hand movements) as the initial vision. 13.04% cases had a visual acquity 6/18 or better. In 43.47% cases extraocular movements were restricted. RAPD was present in 95.5% of eyes. 82.60% of patients presented with sub conjunctival hemorrhage. CT scan coronal view showed optic nerve sheath thickening in 17.39% patients. The most common fractures noted were fracture floor of orbit in 23.19% cases and medial wall of orbit in 15.21% cases. 38 patients were treated with intravenous Methyl prednisolone within 24-72 hrs. of suspicion of traumatic optic neuropathy. Initial ophthalmoscopic examination was conducted on 46 eyes and optic disc was normal in all cases except one who showed mild disc edema. In 6 to 12 weeks more than 50% optic discs became pale. Optic disc pallor developed in about 81.5 % cases in 6 months. In the present study out of six; 5 patients showed spontaneous improvement without treatment, but treated patients appeared to have a better visual acuity and visual fields. Conclusion: Road traffic accidents were the most common cause associated with TON and males being more commonly involved. Treated patients had a better visual prognosis. On follow up, it was noted that visual acuity improved in patients who had initial vision more than light perception and in patients with no optic canal fractures.

Background: Traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) is an acute injury of the optic nerve due to trauma. It is an ocular emergency that demanding early treatment. Systemic steroids and surgical decompression are the recommended treatment. Objective: To assess the visual outcomes after systemic steroid therapy among patients with TON.

British Journal of Ophthalmology, 1992

Twenty three patients with traumatic optic neuropathy were managed by medical and surgical treatment as follows. High dose intravenous steroids were initiated in all patients. If visions did not improve significantly after 24 to 48 hours decompression of an optic nerve sheath haematoma by medial orbitotomy and neurosurgical decompression of the optic canal were considered based on computed tomographic scan findings. Nine of 16 patients who received steroids only showed significant improvement. One of three showed improvement on optic nerve decompression after steroid failure; three or four showed improvement with combined optic nerve sheath decompression by the medial orbitotomy and decompression of the optic canal by frontal craniotomy. A lucid interval of vision after injury and an enlarged optic nerve sheath were associated with an improved prognosis. Five of the 23 patients had a lucid interval and all five had a final improved vision, while only five of 18 patients without a lucid interval improved. Similarly seven of the nine with an enlarged optic nerve sheath showed improvement while only three of 10 patients (three bilateral cases) who presented with no light perception improved with medical and surgical treatment. While a prospective controlled study of the management of traumatic optic neuropathy is necessary this preliminary study suggests that treatment of traumatic optic nerve sheath haematoma by optic nerve sheath decompression should be considered in selected patients.

Neuro-Ophthalmology, 2014

Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, 2014

Background: There is an increase in the incidence of traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) due to increasing urbanization and rapid spurt in the number of motor vehicles on the road. Despite early presentation and ease of diagnosis the visual outcomes in TON are still limited. There is also significant confusion about the timing, dose and efficacy of steroid treatment in its management. Purpose: To provide a clinical update of the pros and cons of steroid therapy for TON. Design: The paper is a retrospective review of the currently available literature in the English language indexed in PubMed. Methods: A PubMed search was conducted by the authors using the following terms: Traumatic optic neuropathy, megadose, steroids, methylprednisolone. Relevant original articles, review articles, and case reports related to the topic of discussion were evaluated and discussed in the paper. Results: There is no prospective randomized control trial evaluating the effect of steroids in TON. There are varying reports on the effect of steroid therapy from significant improvement to no difference compared to observation. Conclusion: The decision to give steroids to patients with TON has to be on an individual case to case basis and must involve informed consent from the patient. There are documented advantages and disadvantages of steroid therapy and a prospective, randomized, controlled trial is necessary comparing steroids, surgery and observation before definitive management can be evolved.

Acta Clinica Croatica

Traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) is a serious vision threatening condition that can be caused by ocular or head trauma. Indirect damage to the optic nerve is the most common form of TON occurring in 0.5% to 5% of all closed head trauma cases. Although the degree of visual loss after indirect TON may vary, approximately 50% of all patients are left with 'light perception' or 'no light perception' vision, making TON a signifi cant cause of permanent vision loss. We present a 47-year-old male patient with a history of right eye keratoconus following a motorcycle crash. Visual acuity was of 'counting fi ngers at 2 meters' on the right eye due to keratoconus and 'counting fi ngers at 1 meter' on the left eye as a consequence of trauma. Th e Octopus visual fi eld showed diff use reduction in retinal sensitivity and the Ishihara color test indicated dysfunction of color perception on the left eye. Relative aff erent pupillary defect was also present. Computed tomography revealed multifragmentary fracture of the frontal sinus and the roof of the left orbit without bone displacement. Based on the fi ndings, conservative corticosteroid therapy without surgery was conducted. Th e patient responded well to treatment with complete ophthalmologic recovery.

European Journal of Ophthalmology, 2006

To report the long-term outcome of patients with indirect traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) which showed useful vision for a short period after trauma. METHODS. A cohort of 12 TON patients treated with steroids megadose immediately after trauma was followed every 6 months for an overall period of 5 years. Other than a full neuro-ophthalmologic examination, each visit included quantitative Goldmann perimetry and pattern reversal visual evoked potentials. The results of each examination were compared with the visual function at baseline. The main outcome measures were visual acuity and visual field. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS. All patients showed a stable visual function 5 years after optic nerve trauma. There was no difference in visual acuity levels (p=0.65) and no visual field surface area between the visit at baseline and the last follow-up. However, a significant improvement in visual field extension (p=0.036) was observed after perimetry evaluation. CONCLUSIONS. This cohort of patients clearly demonstrates that the residual visual function found in the short term after TON is maintained for at least 5 years. These findings add further important clinical information for patients with TON. Furthermore, these data may be helpful to better quantify morbidity related to optic nerve trauma and its permanent sequelae.

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1997

Traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) causes blindness of varied severity and occurs infrequently as a complication of closed head injury. A case is presented of TON that occurred in a patient who suffered complete T4 paraplegia from a motorcycle accident but in whom no severe head injury took place. In this case, high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone was begun for the spinal cord injury and repeated 24 hours later for the TON. Vision improved from near total blindness to 20/400 in the left eye (OS) and 20/130 in the right eye (OD). Two weeks later, however, the patient's vision suddenly worsened. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using fat suppression confirmed a lesion along the optic nerve consistent with TON. A third course of methylprednisolone again led to improved vision. The steroids were then tapered orally over 2 weeks and the patient had no further relapses. Moderate to severely impaired vision of 20/ 400 OS and 20/130 OD continues to interfere with the patient's function and spinal cord rehabilitation program. It was concluded that a steroid taper was important in maintaining initial visual gains in this case. Awareness of TON and careful attention to the patient's clinical course can minimize deficit and maximize functional outcomes.

Background: Optic nerve injuries occur in the setting of head injury which is often a consequence of road traffic accidents or falls. Traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) is a potentially blinding complication of head and orbital trauma. Different treatment approaches like different dosages of steroids, surgical decompression and observation alone have been suggested but there is no standardized protocol till date. Object: To study the clinical profile, risk factors, visual outcome in a series of forty five patients of Traumatic Optic Neuropathy (TON) after medical management at our tertiary centre. Methods: Forty five patients reported to outpatient department from January 2018 to June 2019 who have a history of trauma were studied prospectively. After relevant and detailed ocular examination, Intravenous methyl prednisolone 1 gram for 5days and thenoral prednisolone 1 mg/kg in tapering doses for two weeks was administered in all patients irrespective of duration of presentation to the hospital after trauma. Results: The age group involved was predominantly 16 to 45years (80%) with a mean age of 35.31 years. Range of follow up was seen from 5days to 5 months. Males (91%) were outnumbered. Road traffic accidents (73.33%) were found to be the most common cause for TON in our series. Of 45, 10 patients were lost to follow up, rest 35 patients who have been followed steroid regime, 18 (51.43%) showed visual improvement (12 patients had >/=2 line improvement, rest 06 patient had one line improvement). 17(48.57%) patients did not show any improvement. 08 patients were same (no perception of light) till the final follow up. Conclusion: IV methyl prednisolone along with oral steroids as proposed by ONTT has been found effective in our case series of TON even in patients who have very low initial visualacuity and who presented late even after 24 hours of injury till the irreversible damage to optic nerve.No major side effects have been encountered with this steroid regimen. High dose steroid has proven its role in traumatic optic neuropathy.

Objective: To investigate a possible correlation between final visual acuity and the presence at baseline of various systemic and local (orbital/ocular) signs in patients affected by indirect traumatic optic neuropathy. Methods: 35 cases of traumatic optic neuropathy were examined retrospectively and 13 variables were tested. Univariate analysis with " no recovery of visual acuity " as the primary outcome was performed. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Fisher's exact test was used for two variables to test differences between proportions. Results: Four variables showed a significantly increased risk for no recovery of visual acuity: presence of blood within the posterior ethmoidal cells (RR = 2.25, 95% CI 1.25 to 4.04); age over 40 years (RR = 1.79, 1.07 to 2.99); loss of consciousness associated with traumatic optic neuropathy (RR = 2.21, 1.17 to 4.16); and absence of recovery after 48 hours of steroid treatment (p < 0.01, Fisher's exact test). Recovery documented at the first follow up visit after treatment was significantly associated with recovery at the last follow up visit (p < 0.01, Fisher's exact test). Conclusions: These four negative prognostic signs in patients affected by traumatic optic neuropathy may be useful in predicting the visual outcome in patients developing visual loss after head trauma and in deciding on the need for surgical treatment.