[Vodovozov's peripapillary reflex in peripapillary chorioretinal atrophy following papillary congestion]

Peripapillary reflex first described by A. M. Vodovozov was diagnosed in 540 patients with optic disk edema of various origins. In seven patients a bright well-discernible reflex was found after postcongestive atrophy in the presence of peripapillary chorioretinal atrophy. Examination of the fundus oculi in transformed light has shown that peripapillary reflex in such cases develops at the site of difference of levels in the fundus oculi where a thinner area of the fundus round the disk in transforming and pigmented epithelium and choroid capillaries are absent, and an area situated more peripherally and characterized by normal thickness starts. The direction of the difference of levels in the retina in such cases is contrariwise to that in manifest congestive papilla. The studies have shown that Vodovozov's peripapillary reflex is diagnostically and prognostically important not only in the clinical picture of congestive papillae and secondary postcongestive atrophies, but even in cases when common and secondary optic nerve dystrophies are to be differentiated between.