Spontaneous recovery of progressive anterior ischemic optic neuropathy

During the last 5 years much discussion has occurred about the progressive anterior ischemic optic neuropathy of nonarteretic type and the usefulness of surgical optic nerve sheath decompression for its treatment. The description of cases with spontaneous recovery of the disease made some authors reserved or against this method and the whole subject has been debated with skeptisism. In this article three cases of progressive nonarteretic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy with spontaneous recovery are described. In all these cases visual acuity, as well as visual evoked responses, was spontaneously ameliorated and the optic disc swelling was resolved. Only the visual fields defects remained almost the same. The question arising from this study is whether or not surgical optic nerve sheath decompression in these cases was the only appropriate method of treatment, as some authors propose.