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High-dose corticosteroids do not improve visual recovery after traumatic optic neuropathy
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Using intravenous high-dose corticosteroids to treat patients with recent traumatic optic neuropathy does not improve visual acuity any more than placebo, according to a study by researchers in Iran.
Morteza Entezari, MD, and colleagues randomly assigned 31 eyes of 31 patients who had suffered trauma within 7 days to one of two study groups. The treatment group included 16 eyes that received 250 mg of methylprednisolone delivered intravenously every 6 hours for 3 days and then 1 mg/kg of prednisolone orally for 14 days. The placebo group included 15 eyes that received 50 mL of normal saline delivered intravenously every 6 hours for 3 days and then placebo for 14 days, according to the study.
Final best corrected logMAR visual acuity averaged 1.11 in the treatment group and 1.78 in the placebo group. Visual acuity had improved in 68.8% of the treatment group and in 53.3% of the placebo group, the authors reported.
Neither difference was statistically significant, they noted.
The study is published in the September issue of Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.