OPHTHALMOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS OF VISUAL TRACT INVOLVEMENT IN CRANIOCEREBRAL INJURY

Craniocerebral injuries are known to involve the visual tract in 2-5% of cases. Fifty-nine patients aged 5 to 68 with visual tract involveme nt in craniocerebral injury were examined in N.N. Burdenko Institute o f Neurosurgery of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. Unilateral optic nerve involvement was found in 48 patients, involvement of the c hiasm and/or both optic nerves in 11. Involvement of a single optic ne rve was associated with vision acuity reduction, 30 patients becoming blind or virtually blind, and with various defects of the visual field . Traumatic injury to the chiasm manifested as a rule by the asymmetri c chiasmal syndrome. Follow-up of the patients in the acute period of craniocerebral injury showed that paling of the optic disc manifested in various periods after the moment of the injury, from 3-4 days to 1 month, this depending on the localization of the injury and its distan ce from the posterior pole of the eye. Besides visual disturbances and ophthalmoscopic changes, oculomotor disorders were found which were c aused by traumatic impairment of the oculomotor nerves (in the orbit o r skull) and muscles. Transcutaneous electrostimulation of the injured optic nerves was sufficiently effective, its efficacy directly depend ing on the period elapsed since the injury, excepting blind or virtual ly blind patients.