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Visual Dysfunction with Basal Skull Tumours

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

James A. Sharpe*
Affiliation:
Division of Neurology, Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto
*
427 Edith Cavell Wing, 427 Edith Cavell Wing, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8
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Abstract:

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Early detection of visual loss caused by tumours of the base of the skull is accomplished by systematic tests of the pregeniculate optic pathway. Even when central acuity is relatively preserved, a relative afferent pupillary defect and reduced color perception yield evidence of impaired optic nerve conduction. Although confrontation tests of the visual fields are useful screening techniques, unexplained symptoms should be pursued with static and kinetic perimetry. Patterns of optic nerve and chiasmal field loss and atrophy of the disc or retinal nerve fibers are imprecise guides to the location of basal skull tumours. Regardless of the pattern of visual field defect, unexplained progressive loss of vision demands intensive neuroradiologic study of the basal cisterns and skull.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1985

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