Learning objectives
To describe the visual pathway.
List and review the diseases that involve the visual pathway.
To ilustrate with cases of our institution the pathologies that affect the visual pathway.
Correlate symptoms of the patient with the probable region of disease affectation.
Background
Anatomy of visual pathway.
The visual pathway lies from the globe,
the most anterior structure,
to the occipital cortex,
the most posterior structure.
The optic nerve is formed by the axons of third grade neurons called ganglion cells at the surface of the retina.
It exits the globe posterioly at the optic disc and is divided into four segments: intraocular,
intraorbital (anterior and posterior),
intracanalicular and intracranial Fig. 1 .The intraocular segment is approximately 1 mm in length (disc).
The intraorbital segment is 30 mm...
Findings and procedure details
We reviewed our teaching file of patient with central nervous system pathology associated with decreased visual acuity due to lesions of the visual pathway.
The best cases were selected.
A review of the medical literature was perfomed to explain the selected cases.
Visual pathway lesions can be classified into three groups: pre-chiasmatic,
chiasmatic and retro-chiasmatic.[1,3,4]
VISUAL PATHWAY CLASSIFICATION
PRE-CHIASMATIC
Globe
Abnormalities of the globe result in monocular vision loss,
as distinguished fromvisual field defects.
The most common intraocular tumor of childhood is theretinoblastoma,
a congenital...
Conclusion
Knowing the anatomy of the visual pathway and the correct interpretation of visual field defects allows the radiologist to understand where to look for lesions in imaging studies when requested by an ophthalmologist.
Personal information
Dr.
Rodrigo Martínez De Los Ríos,
Radiology Resident.
Fundación Universitaria Sanitas.
Bogotá/Colombia.
[email protected]
Dr.
Sergio Velásquez Castaño,
Radiology Resident.
Fundación Universitaria Sanitas.
Bogotá/
[email protected]
Dr.
Javier Pantoja Yepez,
Radiology Resident.
Fundación Universitaria Sanitas.
Bogotá/
[email protected]
Dr.
Juan Andrés Mora,
Department of Radiology.
Clínica Universitaria Colombia.
Bogotá/
[email protected]
Dr.
Carolina Tramontini Jens,
Department of Radiology.
Clínica Universitaria Colombia.
Bogotá/
[email protected]
References
Smith M & Strottmann J.
Imaging of the optic nerve and visual pathway.
Seminars in ultrasound,
CT and MRI 22.6 (2001) 473-487
Wichmann W,
Müller-Forell W.
Anatomy of the visual system.
Eur J Radiol 49.1 (2004) 8-30.
Menjot de Champfleur N,
Leboucq N,
Menjot de Champfleur S,
Bonafé A.
Imaging of the pre-chiamatic optic nerve.
Diagnostic and interventional imaging 94 (2013) 973-984.
Menjot de Champfleur N,
Menjot de Champfleur S,
Galanaud D,
Leboucq N,
Bonafé A.
Imaging of the optic chiasm and retrochiasmal visual pathways....