Makindo Medical Notes"One small step for man, one large step for Makindo" |
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Related Subjects: |Brain tumour s |Astrocytomas |Brain Metastases
Cause | Details |
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Cataracts | A very common cause pain free progressive vision loss. Usually elderly. Often bilateral but one worse than the other. Loss of red reflex. Patients describe a reduce in visual quality. Treatment is cataract extraction. |
Diabetes | Commonest cause of blindness in < 50. May be associated with fundal changes in diabetes. Fundus shows dot-blot haemorrhages, microaneurysms, and neovascularization. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy with neovascularization present) needs pan-retinal photocoagulation. Surgical or medical vitrectomy is used in some cases. Focal laser treatment is common for Non proliferative (background) retinopathy when macular oedema is present; the laser is applied only to the affected area. In severe cases, pan-retinal photocoagulation may be used. |
Brain Pathology affecting Optic Tracts/Occipital lobes | Tumour, trauma, stroke or meningitis. Usually causes a progressive homonymous hemianopia. Needs CT/MRI |
Eye infection | Cornea (herpes keratitis, corneal ulcer), retina (CMV in AIDS), orbital cellulitis |
Open angle glaucoma | See specific topic. Age > 40, Black, Family history. Common cause of blindness in blacks. |
Macular degeneration | Adults > 55 years. Often bilateral. Progressive loss of central vision. Fundal appearance is diagnostic. macular drusen; makes the diagnosis. Most are dry type (high doses of vitamins A, C, and E and mineral zinc can slow progression). Wet type treated with VEGF inhibitors (e.g., pegaptanib) and laser therapy with or without verteporfin (a photosensitizing dye |
Optic neuritis | MS, Congenital, Autoimmune-type conditions, infections (Lyme disease), or drugs (ethambutol) |
Papilloedema | Increased ICP (brain tumour , pseudotumour |
Presbyopia | Seen in those > 50 as lens loses its ability to accommodate. Needs help for near vision. This is a normal part of aging and not a disease. |
Uveitis | Autoimmune-type diseases. e.g. rheumatoid and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis regularly to detect uveitis. Treated with steroids. |