Posters

Optic disc edema: epidemiology of a symptom in patients hospitalized within 12 months, with the presentation of case series and the analysis of diagnostic difficulties

Poster Details

First Author: K.Gontarz POLAND

Co Author(s):    M. Dorecka   D. Pojda-Wilczek   E. Magnucka   W. Maruszczyk   E. Mrukwa-Kominek        

Abstract Details

Purpose:

Optic disc edema is often a diagnostic challenge. The causes of optic disc edema include mainly: circulatory disorders, inflammation, raised intracranial pressure. The aim of the work is to present, in a descriptive study, the epidemiology of optic disc edema in patients hospitalized in the Division of Ophthalmology Department, School of Medicine in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland in the last year, with the presentation of a few particularly interesting and diagnostically difficult cases.

Setting:

Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice – Poland; Department of Ophthalmology, Prof. K. Gibinski University Clinical Centre, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice – Poland

Methods:

32 patients with optic disc edema were admitted urgently to the Division of Ophthalmology Department, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland in the last year. Each patient underwent a wide panel of ophthalmological examinations, depending on the diagnostic path, including: visual acuity examination, refractometry, tonometry, visual field test, examination of the anterior and posterior segment of the eye in the slit lamp, fundus photo, fluorescein angiography, Optical Coherence Tomography through the optic disc, eyeball ultrasound and electrophysiological tests. Numerous additional tests were also performed, including: head and orbit imaging and laboratory tests. Depending on the diagnosis, treatment was used.

Results:

Patients hospitalized due to optic disc edema constituted 5.75% of the all emergency hospitalizations in the Division of Ophthalmology Department, in the last year. 13 women and 19 men, average age 44. Ischemic (n = 16; 50%) and inflammatory (n = 7; 22%) neuropathy were most commonly diagnosed. In some cases: papilledema caused by brain tumor (n = 1; 3%), papilledema caused by cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (n = 1) was diagnosed, and in 1 patient there was a suspicion of toxic etiology of neuropathy. In one case the pseudo-Foster Kennedy syndrome of unknown etiology was diagnosed.

Conclusions:

Patients with optic disc edema require immediate diagnosis and early treatment, as these are factors determining the duration of symptoms, the final visual acuity, and often the general condition and life of the patient. It is necessary to quickly and properly differentiate between ophthalmic and neurological cases. Very often diagnostics and therapeutic management in optic disc edema require an interdisciplinary approach.

Financial Disclosure:

None