A 3-Year Review of Neuro-Ophthalmic Disorders Seen at the Eye Clinic of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Abstract

Neuro-ophthalmology is a new subspecialty in Nigeria with only three persons who have undergone any form of training (3-12 months) in a population of about 180 million people with about 500 ophthalmologists. The aim of our study is to deter- mine the common neuro-ophthalmic disorders seen at a newly es- tablished Neuro-Ophthalmology Clinic in a Tertiary Hospital in South- ern Nigeria. Methods: A retrospective case review was performed of all neu- ro-ophthalmic patients seen at University of Port Harcourt Teach- ing Hospital over a 3-year period. One hundred and thirty four case notes with complete records were retrieved. Data was collected on age, sex, and history of systemic illness. Others were presenting symptoms and signs, visual acuity, fundal findings, investigation re- sults, diagnosis and treatment. Data analysis was done using SPSS Version 23 and P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 5,254 new patients were seen in 3-years. Neu- ro-ophthalmic cases constituted 2.6% of all cases. There were 70 males and 64 females with a mean age of 37.50 ± 17.51. The com- monest presenting complaint was poor vision (79.9%), followed by pain in the eye (5.2%), headache (5.2%), diplopia (3.7%) and ptosis (3.0%); and the commonest diagnoses were optic neuropathy (optic neuritis, optic disc atrophy, NAION and others of indeterminate na- ture) - 81.34%, idiopathic intracranial hypertension (3.0%), meningi- oma (3.0%) and ocular cranial nerve palsy (2.23%). Most patients were either blind (29.9%) in one or both eyes or had visual impair- ment (28.2%) at presentation. Conclusion: This study shows that optic nerve disorders were the most common diagnosis and most patients presented late with al- most one third being already blind at presentation.