Extended indications for decompression of the optic nerve: a differentiating analysis of restriction of the visual function, also in comatose patients

BACKGROUND: The care of indirect traumatic optic neuropathy is still treated differently. Special diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties exist in comatose patients without definable visual acuity and in patients with complex failure of the visual field with central visual acuity still receiving sufficiently. METHOD: The total collective of optic nerve decompressions within the period between January 1992 and August 2000 was comprised of 66 patients. 18 of these 66 patients (average age: 40.5 years) were comatose and required critical care. 3 of the 48 consciousness-clear patients showed post-traumatically different defects of the visual field with a visual acuity of 0.3, 0.4 and 1.0. The indication for surgical decompression in both groups was based on the ophthalmological findings and the CT-finding of traumatization of the optic nerve, or the orbit apex respectively. RESULTS: During the subsequent postoperative examinations (on average 12.3 months postoperatively) five patients within the group of the unconscious patients showed a normal visual acuity (0.9-1.0), 3 patients a visual acuity of 0.7, 0.4 and 0.3 and one a visual acuity of 0.1. Six patients remained amaurotic. Three patients died from the general consequences of injury. Improvement of visual field and correction of stereoscopic function occurred in all patients, operated on primarily because of the described visual defects. CONCLUSIONS: Due to these results the indication for the decompression of the optic nerve should find special consideration in comatose patients and in cases of severe restriction of the visual field.