Optic nerve sheath decompression saves sight in severe papilloedema: results from 81 eyes in 56 patients with pseudotumor cerebri

Purpose To report the outcome of optic nerve sheath decompression (ONSD) for papilloedema in a teaching hospital in western Turkey. Methods The charts of 56 patients who had ONSD surgery between April 2007 and September 2019 were collated; and a total of 81 operated and 31 fellow eyes were included. Pre‐ and postoperative ophthalmologic examination including best‐corrected visual acuity (BCVA), colour vision (CV), visual field (VF) analysis, fundoscopic examination and demographic and medical characteristics of the patients were noted and outcomes after surgery were investigated. Results Of all study eyes, 49 (43.7%) eyes had BCVA 0.2 or less and 62 (55.3%) eyes had mean deviation (MD) below – 20.0 dB. 62 (55.3%) eyes had Frisen grade 4 or 5 papilloedema. Almost half of the eyes had severe vision loss. After ONSD, BCVA, CV and MD in both operated and fellow non‐operated eyes improved significantly (p