Incidence of traumatic optic neuropathy in head injury patients in a tertiary health care center

Abstract

Purpose: To study the incidence of traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) in closed head injury patients. Materials and Methods: A prospective study comprising 85 closed head injury patients for a period from February 2020 to March 2020. Head injury patients were examined and assessment of external injury, anterior segment examination, pupillary reaction, visual acuity, assessment of extra-ocular movements, visual field assessment by finger confrontation, fundus examination by direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy was done. Results: In this study the incidence of TON was found to be 1.17% and the mean age of 39.28 years. Conclusion: Traumatic optic neuropathy is one of the important neuro-ophthalmic manifestations of closed head injury. It has a positive correlation with severe head trauma. Patients with TON can present with a variable degree of vision loss, with most cases present with severe vision loss. In the acute phase, the optic nerve usually appears normal on funduscopic examination. Hence high incidence of suspicion is required to diagnosis this rare complication as this study showed TON in closed head injury patients.