Spontaneous resolution of optic perineuritis

The crucial role of gadolinium-enhanced MRI in a case of amaurosis fugax - a case report and literature review

Optic perineuritis is the inflammation of the optic nerve sheath. This affliction can lead to visual field impairment and other signs and symptoms related to the orbital space, such as pain, disc edema, ophthalmoplegia, proptosis. However, not all patients present with such suggestive symptoms, requiring a thorough assessment. We report the case of a young male admitted to our hospital for recurrent episodes of monocular blindness. Amaurosis fugax is a well-known presentation of transient ischemic attacks (TIA) and it was ruled out. Gadolinium-enhanced MRI revealed a typical aspect of optic perineuritis. It was mandatory to consider all possible causes of secondary optic perineuritis as they all represent serious clinical conditions, even if the idiopathic form is more frequent. The clinical and paraclinical evaluation of the patient excluded an underlying disease and primary optic perineuritis was diagnosed. Corticosteroid therapy is usually curative and a course of methylprednisolone was initiated for our patient with good outcome. However, response to treatment is not diagnostic as both primary and secondary optic perineuritis are normally responsive, hence thorough differential diagnosis is necessary.

Optic perineuritis: A Canadian case series and literature review

BACKGROUND

Optic perineuritis (OPN) is a rare orbital inflammatory disorder that primarily involves the optic nerve sheath (ONS). This study aimed to describe the clinical features of idiopathic OPN as well as OPN secondary to other infectious and inflammatory conditions in a Canadian case series as current literature on secondary OPN in Western countries is mostly limited to case reports.

METHODS

Retrospective case series of all patients seen in a tertiary neuro-ophthalmology practice with a diagnosis of OPN from 2014 to 2020.

RESULTS

A total of 21 patients (14 women, mean age 55.8) corresponding to 29 eyes with OPN were identified. Fifteen cases were associated with inflammatory or infectious conditions and only 6 were idiopathic. All idiopathic cases were unilateral. The most common secondary causes of OPN were anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody disease (n = 4), syphilis (n = 3), sarcoidosis (n = 3), and giant cell arteritis (n = 3). At initial presentation, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/20 or better in 24% (n = 7) and visual field mean deviation (VF MD) was better than -5 dB in 34% of eyes (10/29). Treatment consisted of intravenous penicillin for syphilitic OPN and high-dose corticosteroids followed by oral taper with or without immunosuppressive therapy for non-syphilitic OPN. BCVA improved in 34% (10/29) and VF MD improved in 45% (13/29) eyes.

CONCLUSION

OPN primarily occurred in association with systemic inflammatory conditions, especially in bilateral cases. Syphilis must be ruled out in all patients. Anti-MOG antibody disease is an important, newly recognized secondary cause of OPN, and serologic testing should be included in the investigation of all patients with OPN.

An unusual presentation of neurosarcoidosis: Concurrent optic perineuritis and optic neuritis

Neurosarcoidosis is a rare complication of sarcoidosis and typically presents as acute cranial neuropathies. Neurosarcoidosis can rarely cause an inflammatory optic neuropathy, resembles an optic neuritis and even more rarely can cause an optic perineuritis. Although concomitant optic neuritis and optic perineuritis have been reported in other inflammatory conditions, such as myelin oligodendrocyte antibody-associated disease, spatially-distinct optic neuritis, and optic perineuritis has not been previously described in neurosarcoidosis. Here, we present a case of spatially-distinct concomitant optic neuritis and optic perineuritis from neurosarcoidosis in a 51-year-old man initially suspected to harbor metastatic disease based on imaging findings.

Optic perineuritis: a retrospective case series

Optic perineuritis (OPN) is a rare inflammatory disorder involving the optic nerve sheath characterized by visual loss. OPN may be isolated and idiopathic or part of an underlying disorder. This case series aimed to help clinicians investigate and manage this disorder. Presentation, clinical findings, and treatment of OPN are discussed. After review of medical records at the ophthalmology clinic at Sahlgrenska University hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, seven OPN patients (three men and four women) were identified and included in the present case series. These included idiopathic cases and patients with underlying disorders. Age at OPN diagnosis ranged from 26 to 64 years (mean age 55 years, median age 58 years). Five of the patients were treated with corticosteroids. This study suggests that a high-dose course of corticosteroids is important in the treatment of OPN in severely affected patients.

Autoimmunity in visual loss

There are a number of autoimmune disorders which can affect visual function. There are a very large number of mechanisms in the visual pathway which could potentially be the targets of autoimmune attack. In practice it is the retina and the anterior visual pathway (optic nerve and chiasm) that are recognised as being affected in autoimmune disorders. Multiple Sclerosis is one of the commonest causes of visual loss in young adults because of the frequency of attacks of optic neuritis in that condition, however the basis of the inflammation in Multiple Sclerosis and the confirmation of autoimmunity is lacking. The immune process is known to be highly unusual in that it is not systemic and confined to the CNS compartment. Previously an enigmatic partner to Multiple Sclerosis, Neuromyelitis Optica is now established to be autoimmune and two antibodies - to Aquaporin4 and to Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein - have been implicated in the pathogenesis. The term Chronic Relapsing Inflammatory Optic Neuropathy is applied to those cases of optic neuritis which require long term immunosuppression and hence are presumed to be autoimmune but where no autoimmune pathogenesis has been confirmed. Optic neuritis occurring post-infection and post vaccination and conditions such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and various vasculitides may cause direct autoimmune attack to visual structures or indirect damage through occlusive vasculopathy. Chronic granulomatous disorders such as Sarcoidosis affect vision commonly by a variety of mechanisms, whether and how these are placed in the autoimmune panoply is unknown. As far as the retina is concerned Cancer Associated Retinopathy and Melanoma Associated Retinopathy are well characterised clinically but a candidate autoantibody (recoverin) is only described in the former disorder. Other, usually monophasic, focal retinal inflammatory disorders (Idiopathic Big Blind Spot Syndrome, Acute Zonal Occult Outer Retinopathy and Acute Macular Neuroretinitis) are of obscure pathogenesis but an autoimmune disorder of the post-infectious type is plausible. Visual loss in autoimmunity is an expanding field: the most significant advances in research have resulted from taking a well characterised phenotype and making educated guesses at the possible molecular targets of autoimmune attack.