Abstract:

Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is a common clinical disease, which can lead to acute vision loss. It is suggested that NAION is caused by the abrupt poor perfusion in the optic papillae from the branches of the central retinal artery and the posterior ciliary artery, not due to the arteritis, which cause the characteristic structural and functional damages in the anterior segment of the optic nerve. The recent advanced optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), is a new technique for testing the microvascular perfusion in and around the optic disc and in the macula through the quantitative analyses of vessel density and blood flow rate. OCTA can be used to discriminate the different microvascular perfusion reduction in the different regions or depths of the optic disc or the macula in NAION, which is much better than the traditional examinations for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis and follow\|up of NAION. It can also be used to detect the abnormal microvascular perfusion in different regions or depths of the optic disc or the macula in the high\|risk eyes, which may provide the basis for the prevention of NAION.  (Int Rev Ophthalmol, 2019, 43:  123-127)