Clinical Profile of the Optic Neuritis in Korea.

Ahn, Byung Cook; Kim, Hyeon Sook; Ahn, Hyo Sook

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 1997;38(10):1827-1833.
Published online October 1, 1997.

Clinical Profile of the Optic Neuritis in Korea.

Byung Cook Ahn, Hyeon Sook Kim, Hyo Sook Ahn

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Chonbuk National University, Medical School, Korea.
²Department of Ophthalmology, University of Ulsan, Asan Medical Center, Seoul.

한국인 시신경염의 임상양상

안병국(Byung Cook Ahn),김현숙(Hyeon Sook Kim),안효숙(Hyo Sook Ahn)

Abstract

We performed a retrospective review on 32 patients(37 eyes) with the diagnosis of optic neuritis with follow-up more than 3 months, to determine its clinical characteristics in Korea. They consisted of 18 women and 14 men with a median age of 35.9 years. The initial visual acuity on presentation was variable from 1.2 to NLP, 84% of patients had at least 0.5 or better final visual acuity. Sixty-nine percent of the patients showed swollen disc and the remaining appeared normal in the affected eyes. Visual field examination revealed central or ceco-central scotoma in 17 eyes(48%) and other variable visual field defects. Visual evoked potential was abnormal in 89% of the examined eyes. Magnetic resonance imaging showed optic nerve enhancement in 48% and characteristic findings consistent with multiple sclerosis was seen in 6% of the examined subjects. This result suggests that the optic neuritis in Korea present with more papillitis than retrobulbar optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis is less commonly seen compared with previous reports of Caucasian optic neuritis.

Key Words: Optic neuritis;Visual acuity;Visual field;Visual evoked potential;Magnetic resonance imaging