High dose corticosteroids for treatment of vision loss due to indirect injury to the optic nerve

Abstract

Thirty-six patients with vision loss due to indirect injury to the optic nerve were retrospectively studied. Twenty-one had been acutely treated with high-dose intravenous dexamethasone and 15 had not. The visual acuity of 62% of the treated patients and of 33% of the untreated patients improved. This difference was not statistically significant. However, of those patients whose vision did improve, the vision of those on steroids began to improve earlier (P<.05).