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Are PHOMS a clinical sign of optic neuritis?

Eye (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Purpose

Assess the prevalence and evolution of PHOMS in optic neuritis.

Methods

We analysed the medical files of 126 patients included in the OCTON cohort. Patients’ medical files, digital retinal images and OCT examinations were reviewed, searching for optic nerve head oedema and PHOMS at the initial presentation and during the follow-up.

Results

We included 102 patients in the final analysis. Twenty-nine (29) eyes had optic nerve head oedema at the initial presentation. PHOMS were found to be present in 8 eyes affected with optic neuritis. All cases of PHOMS were associated with optic nerve head oedema. All the PHOMS decreased in size and disappeared with the improvement of the oedema.

Discussion

Our results show that PHOMS is not a common sign of optic neuritis. We didn’t observe any case of PHOMS in the absence of optic nerve head oedema in eyes with optic neuritis. PHOMS seem to be a rare sign of optic neuritis associated to optic nerve head oedema, and they tend to disappear with the improvement of the optic nerve head oedema. We suggest that the presence of PHOMS in optic neuritis eyes with no optic nerve oedema should be a considered warning sign.

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Fig. 1: Flow chart of the study.
Fig. 2: Optical coherence tomography image of a PHOMS found in a left eye affected by optic neuritis.
Fig. 3: Optical coherence tomography image of an eye affected with PHOMS and its resolution.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the privacy of medical files but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank David Pena-Guzman, PhD, for his advice and contribution in finalising the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rothschild Foundation Hospital, department of Neuro-Ophthalmology, 29 rue Manin, 75940, Paris, Cedex 19, France

    Ahmed Aziria, Manon Philibert, Catherine Vignal & Rabih Hage

  2. Sorbonne Université, Faculté de Médecine, 91 Boulevard de l’ l’Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France

    Ahmed Aziria

  3. Rothschild Foundation Hospital, department of neurology, 29 rue Manin, 75940, Paris, Cedex 19, France

    Romain Deschamps

Authors
  1. Ahmed Aziria
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  2. Manon Philibert
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  3. Romain Deschamps
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  4. Catherine Vignal
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  5. Rabih Hage
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Contributions

AA, MP, RD, CV, and RH: design and conduct of the study. AA: data collection. AA and RH: data analysis and interpretation. AA and RH: writing of the manuscript. AA, MP, RD, CV, and RH: critical review and final approval of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Aziria.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Aziria, A., Philibert, M., Deschamps, R. et al. Are PHOMS a clinical sign of optic neuritis?. Eye (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02419-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02419-w

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