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Idiopathic optico‐chiasmatic arachnoiditis (IOCA) – enigmatic or non existant disorder?
Author(s) -
GRZYBOWSKI A,
LESSELL S
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2013.3775.x
Subject(s) - arachnoiditis , medicine , neurosurgery , disease , history , radiology , pathology
Purpose There was a plethora of publications on idiopathic optico‐chiasmatic arachnoiditis (IOCA) between 1929 and 1980 but few if any subsequently, testifies to the paucity of cases in recent decades. Thus, the aim of the study was to analyse the original descriptions of the disease and verify its real nature. Methods Study was based on the analysis of all historical descriptions of the diseases, including earliest articles, textbooks, etc. Results A 1929 report by the Argentine neurosurgeon Manuel Balado and his ophthalmic colleague Paulina Satanowsky is generally considered the first description of IOCA. By 1937 there were documented 129 surgically verified cases (13 associated with syphilis and the remainder idiopathic). The published descriptions of the disease was characterized by the great heterogeneity of the epidemiology, symptoms and signs. The decline of IOCA cases coincides with the advent of computerized tomographic scanning in the early 1970s. This has continued as more sophisticated imaging has been introduced. Conclusion IOCA did not and does not exist as a separate and distinct clinical entity.