Acute post-partum vision loss due to pilocytic astrocytoma

We report an unusual case of a thirty-three-year-old woman who presented with acute unilateral vision loss following pregnancy and was ultimately discovered to have a pilocytic astrocytoma of the optic nerve.

A thirty-three-year-old previously healthy female presented one month following Caesarean section with unilateral vision loss. She was found to have significantly decreased visual acuity, an afferent pupil deficit, proptosis, optic nerve edema and choroidal folds. Imaging revealed a large lesion of the optic nerve. Biopsy was performed and pathologic analysis revealed a pilocytic astrocytoma, WHO grade 1. The patient opted for close observation without further management and demonstrated mild improvement in visual function.

Optic pathway gliomas (OPG) most commonly present in the pediatric patient population with painless proptosis, slowly progressive vision loss, and clinical findings of chronic optic neuropathy.( Farazdaghi et al., 2019 Sep) 1 Acute presentations of this disease in adulthood are rare. This case demonstrates a rare case of acute optic nerve glioma presentation during the post-partum period.