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PubMed · 15955979

Delayed visual decline in patients with "stable" optic neuropathy.

Jonathan W Kim·Joseph F Rizzo·Simmons Lessell
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Histological studies on the human optic nerve have documented decreasing axonal nerve fiber counts with age. In patients with optic atrophy, a nonpathological dropout of ganglion cell axons as part of the normal aging process may become clinically significant. OBJECTIVE: To describe the occurrence of delayed visual loss in patients with presumably "stable" optic neuropathy. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 3 patients who experienced slowly progressive visual loss in adulthood after suffering childhood optic nerve injury. RESULTS: All 3 patients had a monophasic illness in childhood that caused bilateral optic atrophy and visual impairment. Following decades of stability, each suffered a gradual, symptomatic visual decline that extended over years. No new ophthalmologic, systemic, or neurologic disorder was found that explained the visual decline in any of these patients. CONCLUSION: We hypothesize that the late visual decline in these 3 patients resulted from deleterious effects of age-related axonal loss on an already depleted population of neurons.

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Age of OnsetAgedAgingAxonsCell CountFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedOptic Nerve DiseasesRetinal Ganglion CellsVision DisordersVisual AcuityCase ReportsJournal Article

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Jonathan W Kim, Joseph F Rizzo, Simmons Lessell. 2005. Delayed visual decline in patients with "stable" optic neuropathy.. https://doi.org/10.1001/archopht.123.6.785

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