Magnetic Resonance Findings in Chiasmal and Pregeniculate Ischemic Neuropathy

Excerpt

Only few reports have been published on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in ischemic optic neuropathy, usually involving the anterior part of the optic nerve. Posterior ischemic optic neuropathy (PION) is considered a rare entity with a much lower incidence than anterior ischemic optic neuropathy [1]. Little attention has been paid to imaging in PION. This is likely to be due to the difficult ophthalmological diagnosis and the difficult clinical differential diagnosis between PION and a posterior cerebral artery stroke. Often brain MR imaging is requested in these patients searching for a recent infarct. The routine protocol usually does not include thin slices of the visual pathway and pathology of the anterior visual pathway can easily be overlooked on 4- or 5-mm slices. …