Optic Nerve Disorders

Abstract Just as neuro-ophthalmology links ophthalmology with other medical specialties, so too the optic nerve links the eye with the central nervous system. Thus, ophthalmologists must be familiar with a wide variety of optic nerve diseases, which may occur in isolation or form part of a generalised neurologic or systemic disorder. Optic Nerve Disorders is an up-to-date guide to the relevant literature on a wide variety of clinical diseases of the optic nerve that will give the clinician a handy reference to assist in both their diagnosis and management. It provides a succinct, yet comprehensive review of optic nerve disorders commonly encountered in clinical practice, briefly reviews the anatomy and physiology of the optic nerve, and outlines those techniques of particular importance during clinical testing of optic nerve function. Chapter 1 reviews the major anatomic aspects of the optic nerve at both a macroscopic and a microscopic level, and discusses the critical role of axonal transport in optic nerve physiology. Chapter 2 takes the reader back to basics, emphasising the importance of obtaining a detailed patient history and performing a careful ophthalmologic examination. Chapters 3 through 9 cover the major clinical disorders affecting the optic nerve: papilledema, optic neuritis, ischemic optic neuropathy, compression of the anterior visual pathways, developmental and hereditary optic nerve disorders, toxic and nutritional optic neuropathy, and traumatic optic neuropathy. The last chapter, Chapter 10, summarises those optic neuropathies that cannot easily be categorised, but that frequently confront the general ophthalmologist in clinical practice.