Translational preclinical research may lead to improved medical management of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy

Abstract

Ischemic optic neuropathy is a major cause of significantly reduced vision (1-3). It may be arteritic (AAION) or non-arteritic (NA-AION), anterior or posterior. NA-AION, the most common form (1-4), is characterized clinically by acute, monocular, painless visual loss with optic disk swelling (5). It is attributed to an ischemic insult to the optic nerve followed by an inflammatory reaction (6, 7). The optic nerve head (ONH), is sensitive to minute changes in blood flow and therefore very susceptible to vascular insufficiencies due to altered autoregulation, vasospasm, and systemic vascular disease. However, the process leading to non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NA-AION) appears to be complex and multi-factorial (8), and the exact cause is still unknown. © 2014 Nicholson. Leiba and Goldenberg-Cohen.