Abstract :
Purpose: To assess the visual outcome in patients with decreased vision due to traumatic optic neuropathy who were managed differently either by conservative method, iv corticosteroids, or decompression surgery Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted involving 25 consecutive patients (25 eyes).
with unilateral blindness as a result of head injury with regard to their visual status, CT scan, and MRI
scan.
Results: Patients were divide into 3 groups. In first group, 12 of 14 eyes treated with intravenous followed by oral corticosteroids had shown 2 line improvement of visual acuity, where as in the second group, 8 of 9 patients treated conservatively had shown 1 line of improvement and in third group of patients who had decompression surgery, 2 of 2 had shown 1 line of improvement. The vision of 3 patients remained the
same when they presented 1 month after injury.
Conclusion: Patients treated with intravenous followed by oral corticosteroids have better visual outcome compared to those who underwent conservative management and decompression surgery. Patients who had vision better than counting fingers and initiation of treatment with in 8 hours of injury showed significant improvement.
Keyword :
Optic neuropathy, Visual outcome, Trauma, Corticosteroids.