Neuro-ophthalmology Clinics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, USA.
A retrospective review of all patients referred to the Neuro-ophthalmology Divisions, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center, from January 2001 to October 2005 was performed. All patients with a diagnosis of nonarteritic anterior or posterior ischemic optic neuropathy were identified. Patients with ischemic optic neuropathy that occurred between 2 months and 12 months after cataract extraction were selected for evaluation.
Six eyes with nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy that occurred 2 to 6 months after cataract extraction in 4 patients (2 bilateral nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy) and 1 eye with nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy that occurred after 6 months in 1 patient were identified. One patient had nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy in 1 eye 3 months after cataract extraction and 4 years later had nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy in the fellow eye 5 months after cataract extraction. Follow-up after the last cataract extraction was 1 to 3 years for all patients.
Although an association between cataract extraction and delayed nonarteritic anterior and posterior ischemic optic neuropathy has been suggested, current data do not support a causal relationship. In addition, the window of postoperative susceptibility for delayed ischemic optic neuropathy after cataract extraction is unclear.