Papilloedema secondary to oligodendroglioma

Oligodendrogliomas are rare slow-growing asymptomatic glial tumours that usually present in patients in their fourth to sixth decades of life. Neurological symptoms that may present include nausea, headache, vomiting, diplopia, confusion, focal weakness, numbness and seizures. The treatment of oligodendroglioma tumours is based on functional status classification, lumbar puncture, imaging of the head, tumour biopsy and genetic testing. Grades II and IV oligodendroglial tumours, which have co-deletion of the short arm of chromosome 1 (1p) and the long arm of chromosome 19 (19q) and mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase, have the most favourable prognosis, as they respond well to neurosurgery and chemotherapy. This report will discuss a general case of papilloedema in a young patient with oligodendroglioma and the role of the optometrist in its post-neurosurgical and chemotherapeutic care.