Home » Vision Loss » Neuro-ophthalmology Question of the Week: Transient Monocular Vision Loss Categories

Neuro-ophthalmology Question of the Week: Transient Monocular Vision Loss Categories

June 14, 2017 By

Neuro-ophthalmology Question of the Week: Transient Monocular Vision Loss Categories

Question: What are the three main categories of transient monocular vision loss?
1

____________________________________________________

 Question with answers: What are the three main categories of transient monocular vision loss?
The three main categories of TMVL are:
1. vascular disorders,
2. ocular diseases, and
3. optic nerve disorders.

Explanation: “5.2.1 Causes of Transient Monocular Visual Loss

Numerous ocular disorders as well as transient ocular ischemia may produce episodes of transient monocular visual loss (TMVL) (see Chapter 6).

There are three main causes of TMVL: vascular disorders, ocular diseases, and optic nerve disorders:

  • The most common vascular disorder of the eye is sometimes referred to as amaurosis fugax, the temporary loss of vision of one eye caused by decreased blood flow (ischemia) to the retina.
  • Orbital (ophthalmic artery), retinal (central retinal artery and its branches), optic nerve (short posterior ciliary arteries), and choroidal (posterior ciliary arteries) ischemia can all produce TMVL.
  • Ocular diseases involving the anterior segment of the eye that can cause TMVL include dry eyes, keratoconus, hyphema, and angle closure glaucoma. Retinal Detachment can also rarely produce transient visual loss.
  • Optic nerve disorders that can cause TMVL include papilledema, optic disc drusen, and congenitally anomalous optic discs, all of which can produce transient visual obscurations. Gaze-evoked transient monocular visual loss can be the result of optic nerve compression. The Uhthoff Phenomenon occurs in patients with optic neuropathies, (especially of demyelinating etiology), whose vision may worsen with heat or exercise.”1

Reference: 1. Neuro-ophthalmology Illustrated-2nd Edition. Biousse V and Newman NJ. 2012. Theme

More than 600 additional neuro-ophthalmology questions are freely available at http://EyeQuiz.com.
Questions prior to September 2016 are archived at http://ophthalmology.stanford.edu/blog/
After that, questions are archived at https://neuro-ophthalmology.stanford.edu
Follow https://twitter.com/NeuroOphthQandA to be notified of new neuro-ophthalmology questions of the week.
Please send feedback, questions and corrections to tcooper@stanford.edu.