• Rod Foroozan, Vincent A Deramo, Lawrence M Buono, D Gerard R Jayamanne, Robert C Sergott, Helen Danesh-Meyer, and Peter J Savino.
• Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Wills Eye Hospital, 900 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
• Ophthalmology. 2003 Mar 1;110(3):539-42.

ObjectiveTo assess the visual function of patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) who had visual loss from either anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) or central retinal artery occlusion and had a subsequent improvement in visual acuity after treatment with corticosteroids.DesignRetrospective, observational case series.ParticipantsThirty-two consecutive patients with biopsy-proven GCA treated at one institution between January 1992 and December 1997.InterventionTreatment with intravenous methylprednisolone 250 mg every 6 hours for 3 days, followed by oral prednisone 1 mg/kg daily for at least 4 weeks duration.Main Outcome MeasuresThe number of patients with an improvement in visual acuity after treatment with intravenous methylprednisolone; neuro-ophthalmic evaluation, including visual acuity, funduscopy, and visual field examination of these patients.ResultsImprovement in visual acuity occurred in 5 of 39 eyes (13%) with visual loss from biopsy-proven GCA, and all 5 patients had AION. Despite the improvement of visual acuity in these 5 patients, perimetry revealed marked constriction of the visual field in each affected eye.ConclusionsThe prognosis for visual improvement in GCA is poor. Although an improvement in visual acuity occurred in 5 of our patients, marked constriction of the visual field was present in all of them.

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