Characterization of Compressive Lesions of the Anterior Visual Pathway

Abstract

Objective: To determine the clinical-epidemiological characteristics of patients diagnosed with compressive lesions of the anterior visual pathway.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted during the period from May 2018 to March 2020 with 41 patients diagnosed with compressive syndrome of the anterior visual pathway attended at the Neurophthalmology Service of the Cuban Institute of Ophthalmology "Ramón Pando Ferrer".

Results: The most frequent symptom was the progressive decrease of central vision. Tumor type lesions were found in 39 patients for 95.1 %. Hemianoptic defects were detected in the visual field of 45% of the sample and 33% presented diffuse decrease of retinal sensitivity.

Conclusions: The majority of patients were female at middle ages of life. Tumor lesions predominated over vascular lesions. Pituitary macroadenomas and meningiomas were the most frequent etiologies and the most frequent site of compression was the optic chiasm. Decreased thickness of the macular ganglion cell complex was detected in the optical coherence tomography of most of the patients.