Fluorescein angiography in acute nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy

Fundus fluorescein angiograms from 41 patients with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy of less than three weeks' duration were compared with those from 43 age-matched control subjects. Patients with disease showed statistically significant delay in both the onset and the time to completion of prelaminar optic disk filling. Neither onset nor completion of peripapillary choroidal filling were markedly delayed when compared with control subjects. Frequency of occurrence of delayed filling within peripapillary choroidal watershed zones was not increased in patients with disease. There was no consistent correlation by quadrant between optic disk filling delay, choroidal filling delay, optic disk swelling or hyperfluorescence, and visual field deficit. No trend for change in characteristics was found with increasing time interval from onset of symptoms to performance of angiography. Fluorescein angiography in nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy demonstrates delayed optic disk filling without consistent relation to adjacent peripapillary choroidal filling delay or other disease findings.