STORY of the Papilla - a Case Report

To present a case report with "unclear" and sudden decrease of left eye visual acuity and bilateral visual fields defects. A case report. A 66-year-old woman was referred to our Center of Neuroophthalmology and Orbitology by a neurologist for a history of sudden decrease of visual acuity of her left eye 3 years ago. From September 2009, she was examined at various and not only ophthalmology departments. One by one the optic nerve neuritis, traumatic, compressive or toxic neuropathy and also nutritive neuropathy because of vitamin B(12) deficiency were excluded. The patient underwent also a genetic examination for Lebers hereditary optic nerve neuropathy, but this diagnosis was not confirmed. On magnetic resonance imaging, an atrophy of both optic nerves was described, with no further progression found during the follow-up examination after one year. In available patients medical records we found out that on optical coherence tomography scans optic disc drusen of the both eyes are visible, but this wasnt described in the records. Also, an examination of Visual Evoked Potential was performed - this confirmed the diagnosis of optic disc drusen. However, our patient was further examined for visual lost of the left eye. At the time of presentation (January, 2014), her best-corrected visual acuity of the right eye was 0.5, and counting fingers at 50 cm distance with correct light projection in the left eye. Static perimetric examination demonstrated bilateral and concentric narrowing of visual fields. The eyes were parallel, with no limitation of their movements in any direction. The patient was without diplopia, the direct pupil reactions to the light were sluggish bilaterally, and anterior segments of both eyes were with no pathologies. Examination of the fundus revealed bilateral findings of pale optic disc with absent optic cup and indistinct "lumpy" margins. Waxy pearl-like irregularities of the papila of both eyes were visible even without pupil dilatation. Bilateral optic disc drusen were confirmed by ultrasonography, fundus autofluorescence and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Optic disc drusen are often asymptomatic, frequently it is an accidental finding during the biomicroscopy of fundus due to ordinary eye examination. Rarely, optic disc drusen can cause blood circulation failure on the optic disc with typical defects of the visual field. Thats why we shouldnt forget the optic disc drusen in the differential diagnosis considerations.