Prefoveal floaters as a differential diagnosis to optic neuritis: "mouches dormantes"

This case series describes a new optical coherence tomography (OCT) specific observation relevant to the differential diagnosis of patients with suspected optic neuritis. A tiny prefoveal floater, only detectable by OCT, was found responsible for the symptoms in three patients, one of whom had been referred with unilateral delayed visual evoked potentials. This case series suggests that with increased use of OCT in routine clinical care, entoptic phenomena can be demonstrated as a relevant differential diagnosis to optic neuritis. Patients should be explained the benign nature of their symptoms

Progression of Anterograde Trans-Synaptic Degeneration in the Human Retina Is Modulated by Axonal Convergence and Divergence.

In the visual pathway of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), the inner nuclear layer (INL) of the retina is a tight barrier for retrograde trans-synaptic degeneration. In this observational, retrospective cross-sectional study, segmented macular spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) volume scans were reviewed to investigate if this observation also holds true for anterograde trans-synaptic degeneration. Significant thinning was found in all retinal layers in patients with outer retinal diseases compared with the healthy controls, while there was no significant attenuation of the outer retina in patients with MS. In contrast to the tight barrier function observed with retrograde trans-synaptic degeneration, the INL appears to be more permissive for the propagation of anterograde trans-synaptic degeneration. We speculate that this may be due to the size of the area affected and be explained by convergence and divergence of axons within the retinal layers. These findings are likely relevant to future restorative stem cell treatment of the outer retinal layers, as time may matter

De pupilreactie belicht: Klinische aspecten van de normale en abnormale pupilreactie [= Clinical aspects of the abnormal pupillary response; shedding light on pupillary response]

Testing the pupillary response is a quick and valuable diagnostic measure for certain neurological and ophthalmological diseases in patients. The pupillary response can aid in localizing abnormalities in important parts of the visual system and brainstem, provided that the tests are executed and interpreted correctly. When an abnormal pupillary response is found, it is important to differentiate between an afferent problem (eyeball, retina, optical nerve), brain stem pathology, or an efferent problem (parasympathetic fibers of the oculomotor nerve, iris sphincter muscle). We describe the technique of the ophthalmological examination, the normal neurophysiology and the possible abnormal pupil responses in patients with intact and decreased consciousness