Evaluation of ophthalmic manifestations in patients with intracranial tumours.

The present study was done to observe the ophthalmic manifestations in patients with intracranial tumor. This was a prospective, purposive, consecutive, observational study conducted in patients with radiologically proven intracranial tumors in the department of Ophthalmology with collaboration of Department of Neuro-surgery of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University from January 2006 to December 2010. All cases had tissue histopathology confirmation post-operatively. The most common type of intracranial tumor was pituitary adenoma (58.04%), followed by craniopharyngioma (20.53%), posterior fossa tumour (12.50%) [medulloblestoma, ependymoma], meningioma (8.04%) [sphenoidalwing meningioma, petroclavel meningioma, oligodendroglioma] and others (0.89%) [nasopharyngial carcinoma, esthesio - astrocytoma]. Common neuro-ophthalmological findings were visual blur (91.07%), visual field defect (71.42%), optic disc changes (50%), pupillary light reaction defect (48.21%) and colour vision defect (46.42%). The study shows, pituitary adenoma is the most common tumor that impairs the visual pathway structures followed by craniopharyngioma, posterior fossa tumour & meningioma. Furthermore, decreased visual acuity, visual field defect, abnormal optic discs, relative afferent pupillary defect and ophthalmoplegia etc. are the common neuro-ophthalmic features that should be carefully examined for early detection of intracranial tumors.