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Ischemic Optic Neuropathy

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Albert and Jakobiec's Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology

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Abstract

As the name implies, ischemic optic neuropathy results from circulatory insufficiency of the intraocular segment of the optic nerve (anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, AION) or, less commonly, the intraorbital segment (posterior ischemic optic neuropathy, PION). Optic disk edema, which is absent in PION, is the essential feature of AION. AION is the most common cause of optic disk swelling in patients 50 years of age or over and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of sudden vision loss in adults. Other etiologies for optic disk swelling in this age group include inflammation, infiltration, and compression. Arteritic AION generally refers to optic nerve infarction from temporal or giant cell arteritis. Temporal arteritis is a steroid-responsive large-vessel arteritis of unknown etiology that most commonly occurs in individuals greater than 60 years of age, although cases in younger individuals have been reported. GCA can be challenging to recognize because its most common clinical findings are among the least specific, and the most specific clinical features are among the least common. Failure to recognize the disease promptly can result in permanent vision loss in one or both eyes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ophthalmology, Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY, USA

    Howard D. Pomeranz

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  1. Howard D. Pomeranz
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Correspondence to Howard D. Pomeranz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Oregon Health & Science University Department of Ophthalmology, Portland, OR, USA

    Daniel Albert

  2. Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, USA

    Joan Miller

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dimitri Azar

  4. Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Lucy H. Young

Section Editor information

  1. McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Leonard Levin

  2. Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, USA

    Dean Cestari

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Pomeranz, H.D. (2021). Ischemic Optic Neuropathy. In: Albert, D., Miller, J., Azar, D., Young, L.H. (eds) Albert and Jakobiec's Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90495-5_43-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90495-5_43-1

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