ANALYSIS OF FACTORS RELATED TO THE PATHOGENESIS OF ANTERIOR ISCHEMIC OPTIC NEUROPATHY AND THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF ACETAZOLAMIDE

Weina Ma¹, Lei Huang¹, Fei Xiao², Yueling Zhang^{1, *}

¹No.2 Department of Ophthalmology, Baoding first Central Hospital, Baoding, 071000, Hebei, China - ²Function Department of Ophthalmology, Baoding first Central Hospital, Baoding, 071000, Hebei, China

Introduction: To explore the factors related to the pathogenesis of anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) and the therapeutic effect of acetazolamide. 

Materials and methods: 45 cases with AION admitted to the ophthalmology department of our hospital from June 2021 to May 2022 were selected as the experimental group, and another 45 non-AION cases during the same period were randomly selected as the control group. The baseline data of the research objects in the two groups were collected, and univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the factors related to the pathogenesis of AION. At the same time, patients in the experimental group were treated with acetazolamide to investigate its therapeutic effect. 

Results: There were significant differences in hypertension history, diabetes mellitus history, hyperlipidemia history, and serum uric acid levels between the experimental group and the control group (P<0.001). Hypertension history, diabetes mellitus history, hyperlipidemia history, and uric acid >297μmol/L were the risk factors for AION patients (P<0.05). After treatment, the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), mean defect (MD) and the mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) values in the experimental group were significantly lower than those before treatment (P<0.001), with significantly higher values of mean sensitivity (MS) in this group after treatment (P<0.001). 

Conclusion: The pathogenesis of AION involves a variety of factors, especially associated with hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Acetazolamide can lower the intraocular pressure and inhibit the generation of aqueous humor. Therefore, acetazolamide may have high clinical value in the treatment of AION.