Giant Cell Arteritis and Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathies

Abstract

Ischemic optic neuropathies (IONs) are a major cause of blindness or seriously impaired vision in the middle-aged and elderly population, although they can occur at any age. ION is of two types: anterior (AION) and posterior (PION), the first involving the anterior part of the optic nerve (also called the optic nerve head, ONH) and the second, the rest of the optic nerve. Pathogenetically AION and PION are very different diseases. AION represents an acute ischemic disorder (a segmental infarction) of the ONH supplied by the posterior ciliary arteries (PCAs), while PION has no specific location in the posterior part of the optic nerve and does not represent ischemia in a specific artery [1].