gms | German Medical Science

102. Jahrestagung der DOG

Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft e. V.

23. bis 26.09.2004, Berlin

Posterior ischemic optic neuropathy revealing: rupture of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author C. Claes - Department of Ophthalmology, Hôpital Erasme, Brussels/B
  • D. Milea - Department of Ophthalmology, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris/F
  • B. Bodaghi - Department of Ophthalmology, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris/F
  • T.H. Chau Tran - Department of Ophthalmology, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris/F
  • P. LeHoang - Department of Ophthalmology, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris/F
  • R. Blanc - Department of Neuroradiology, Hôpital H. Mondor, Paris/F

Evidenzbasierte Medizin - Anspruch und Wirklichkeit. 102. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Ophthalmologischen Gesellschaft. Berlin, 23.-26.09.2004. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2004. Doc04dogSA.10.04

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dog2004/04dog366.shtml

Published: September 22, 2004

© 2004 Claes et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Objective

To report a case of posterior ischemic optic neuropathy as the initial neuro-ophthalmic symptom of a ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm.

Design

observational case report.

Methods

A 29-year-old woman presented with acute unilateral visual loss and superior altitudinal visual field defect, following an episode of initially believed migrainous headache.

Results

Magnetic resonance and cerebral angiography revealed a ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm, subsequently treated by interventional radiology procedures.

Conclusions

Rupture of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm may cause a posterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

Ruptured intracranial aneurysms may initially present with neuro-ophthalmic symptoms. (1) Among them, the vast majority of ruptured aneurysms of the anterior communicating artery (AcomA) present typically with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), isolated visual complaints being very uncommon in this setting. (2) A possible explanation is that an AcomA aneurysm usually rupture before becoming large enough to compress the visual pathways. (3) In this report, we present an unusual case of a patient presenting with a posterior ischemic optic neuropathy (PION), secondary to a ruptured AcomA aneurysm.