Third International Visual Field Symposium - Imaging and Perimetry ...

ule out temporal arteritis. In patients with temporal arteritis, confirmed by
T.A. biopsy, the ESR ranged from 21 to 135 (87.6 + 27.9)mm, while in
those without temporal arteritis it was 1 to 133 (34.5 f 33.0) mm/hour.
CLASSIFICATION
The eyes were divided into two main classes - Group I having AION with
temporal arteritis, and Group II having AION without temporal arteritis.
Visual Acuity (V.A.)
‘Improvement’ or ‘deterioration’ were defined as a change of 2 or more lines
on Snellen’s test type. The various lines on the chart, each representing one
line, were 616, 619, 6112, 6115, 6118, 6121, 6124, 6130, 6160, 6190 and
6/l 20. If the vision was less than 6/120, each of the steps from ‘counting
fingers (C.F.)’ to ‘hand motion (H.M.)‘, from H.M. to ‘light perception
(L.P.)‘, and from L.P. to ‘no light perception (NPL)‘, were considered equal
to 2 lines.
A) GROUP I - The initial and final visual acuity varied from 616 to no
perception of light (NPL) in these patients (Table 15). It improved in 8 eyes,
deteriorated in 5 and did not change in 22. The optic disc at the initial visit
was edematous in 26 eyes and atrophic in 9 eyes; in 8 eyes with optic
atrophy there was no change in vision and in one it improved (Table 15).
B) GROUP II - The initial and final visual acuity varied from 616 to NLP in
these patients also (Table 6). It improved in 42 eyes, deteriorated in 13
and showed no change in 72 eyes (Table 6). The state of the optic disc at
the initial visit and its relationship to the change in visual acuity is shown in
Table 7.
VISUAL FIELD DEFECTS:
These were analysed under three categories because of their complexity and
diversity. These three categories were:
1) Generalized peripheral visual field contraction.
2) Localized peripheral visual field defect.
3) Localized scotoma, showing no peripheral breakthrough.
In each category these were further analysed, subdivided according to
whether temporal arteritis was present or not (i.e., Group I or II) and also as
seen at the first visit (‘initial’) and at the end of follow-up (‘final’).
In Group II, no visual field defect could be recorded initially in 4 eyes
(except for an enlarged blind spot in one). On follow-up the visual fields
remained normal in all 4 eyes; 15 other eyes also recovered normal vision.
All 19 eyes had optic disc edema at the first visit. In the remaining eyes the
following field defects were recorded:
1. Generalized peripheral visual field con traction The detailed incidence is
given in Table 8. There was no contraction initially in 37.1% and 76.7%
of eyes of Group I and II respectively, and on follow-up at the final visit it
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