This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Leonard A. Levin, MD, PhD

JAMA. 1995;273(8):666-667.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION), or optic nerve-head infarction, is the most common optic nerve disorder of the elderly except for glaucoma. There are two types of AION. The less common arteritic AION is associated with giant cell arteritis and was described more than 3000 years ago.¹ The pathophysiology of arteritic AION is well understood and consists of occlusion of the small posterior ciliary arteries supplying the anterior optic nerve. The diagnosis is suggested by the characteristic clinical findings of temporal ache or tenderness, polymyalgia rheumatica, and jaw claudication, as well as laboratory evidence of an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The diagnosis is proven by finding granulomatous inflammation with giant cells on biopsy of the temporal artery. Immediate high-dose corticosteroid therapy is mandatory, is usually effective prophylaxis for involvement of the other optic nerve, and may even reverse visual loss in occasional cases.

See also p 625.

In contrast, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, K6/456, University of Wisconsin Medical School, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792 (Dr Levin).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?