High-pass Resolution Perimetry in Optic Neuritis

The topography of visual field defects resulting from optic neuritis as measured by spatial resolution perimetry is not known. Using high-pass resolution perimetry, the number and severity of visual field defects in the central visual field was determined in 18 patients with resolved optic neuritis and 18 age-matched controls. Comparisons were made between three groups of eyes: (1) the involved eyes of the patients, (2) the uninvolved eyes of the patients, and (3) the eyes of the controls. Concentric zone analysis showed the involved eyes to have depression of the visual field in all zones with slightly more loss centrally. The "uninvolved" eyes showed a mild equal depression in all zones. Spatial resolution acuity measurements (which correlate directly with the spatial separation of retinal ganglion cell receptive field centers) indicated that the percentage of functioning retinocortical channels for normal eyes, uninvolved eyes, and involved eyes were 112%, 94%, and 58% of the reference normal values, respectively. These differences were all statistically significant. Resolution perimetry of the central visual field of eyes with resolved optic neuritis involves the cecocentral and Bjerrum areas. The loss was often patchy and a combination of cecocentral and arcuate defects. There was also a mild generalized depression of the uninvolved eye.