Occipital Lobe Vascular Malformations: Prevalence of Visual Field Deficits and Prognosis after Therapeutic Intervention

Object Occipital lobe epilepsy (OLE) accounts for a small percentage of extratemporal epilepsies and only few and mostly small patient series have been reported. Preoperative findings, surgical strategies, histopathological bases, and postoperative outcomes for OLE remain to be elucidated. Methods A group of 54 patients with occipital lobe involvement were identified from a prospective epilepsy surgery database established in 1989. Medical charts, surgical reports, MR imaging, and histopathology data were reviewed, and patients with additional temporal and/or parietal involvement were categorized separately. Seizure outcome was classified according to the Engel classification scheme (Classes I–IV). Two patients were excluded due to incomplete data sets. Fifty-two patients with intractable epilepsy involving predominantly the occipital lobe were included in the study, comprising 17.8% of 292 patients undergoing operations for extratemporal epilepsies. Results In nearly all cases (50 [96.2%] of 52), a structural lesion was visible on preoperative MR imaging. Of these cases, 29 (55.8%) had “pure” OLE with no temporal or parietal lobe involvement. Most patients (83%) had complex partial seizures, and 60% also had generalized seizures. All patients underwent occipital lesionectomies or topectomies; 9 patients (17.3%) underwent additional multiple subpial transections. Histopathology results revealed 9 cortical dysplasias (17.3%), 9 gangliogliomas (17.3%), 6 other tumors (11.5%), 13 vascular malformations (25%), and 15 glial scars (28.8%). Visual field deficits were present in 36.4% of patients preoperatively, and 42.4% had new or aggravated visual field deficits after surgery. After a mean follow-up of 80 months, 36 patients were seizure free (69.2% Engel Class I), 4 rarely had seizures (7.7% Engel Class II), 8 improved more than 75% (15.4% Engel Class III), and 4 had no significant improvement (7.7% Engel Class IV). Multifactorial logistic regression analysis revealed that early age at epilepsy manifestation (p = 0.031) and shorter epilepsy duration (p = 0.004) were predictive of better seizure control. All other clinical and surgical factors were not significant in predicting outcome. Conclusions Occipital lobe epilepsy is an infrequent but significant cause of extratemporal epilepsy. Satisfactory results (Engel Class I or II) were obtained in 77% of patients in our series. Postoperative visual field deficits occurred in a significant proportion of patients. In the modern MR imaging era, lesions should be investigated in patients with OLE and lesionectomies should be performed early for a better outcome.

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Neuro-ophthalmological function of patients with pineal region tumors approached transtentorially in the semisitting position

Journal of Neurosurgery ◽

10.3171/jns.1992.76.5.0746 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 76 (5) ◽

pp. 746-751 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Jules M. Nazzaro ◽

William T. Shults ◽

Edward A. Neuwelt

Keyword(s):

Visual Field ◽

Postoperative Period ◽

Visual Fields ◽

Occipital Lobe ◽

Pineal Region ◽

Motor Dysfunction ◽

Homonymous Hemianopsia ◽

Pineal Region Tumors ◽

Cranial Nerve Palsies ◽

Visual Field Deficits

✓ To optimize orientation and operative exposure for aggressive resection, the authors approached pineal region tumors transtentorially with the patient in a semisitting position. In the current report, 12 consecutive patients were evaluated to document operative ocular morbidity referable to the brain stem as well as visual deficits secondary to occipital lobe retraction. Before craniotomy, ophthalmological findings related to dorsal midbrain dysfunction were evident in four of the 10 patients who had previously undergone ventricular shunting. The other patients developed a partial or complete Parinaud's syndrome in the early postoperative period and some suffered additional deficits such as cranial nerve palsies. These deficits improved to varying degrees in all patients. Although each had full visual fields preoperatively, an absolute or incomplete left homonymous hemianopsia developed in the immediate postoperative period. Such visual field deficits fully resolved over a variable period of time in 10 of the 12 patients. One patient has a permanent left homonymous hemianopsia, while another has a left homonymous paracentral scotoma. Eight patients were able to return to preoperative pursuits. While ocular abnormalities related to dorsal midbrain dysfunction are most probably independent of operative approach, visual field deficits attributable to occipital lobe retraction were common in patients after a occipital transtentorial approach performed in the semisitting position. Reading difficulties associated with ocular motor dysfunction due to dorsal midbrain involvement represent the principal long-term neuro-ophthalmological complaint of patients who have undergone pineal region surgery.

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Long-term visual outcome after microsurgical removal of occipital lobe cavernomas

Journal of Neurosurgery ◽

10.3171/2012.5.jns112102 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 117 (2) ◽

pp. 295-301 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Juri Kivelev ◽

Elina Koskela ◽

Kirsi Setälä ◽

Mika Niemelä ◽

Juha Hernesniemi

Keyword(s):

Visual Field ◽

Visual Fields ◽

Visual Field Loss ◽

Occipital Lobe ◽

Visual Outcome ◽

Surgical Removal ◽

Long Term Outcome ◽

Visual Field Deficit

Object Cavernomas in the occipital lobe are relatively rare. Because of the proximity to the visual cortex and incoming subcortical tracts, microsurgical removal of occipital cavernomas may be associated with a risk of visual field defects. The goal of the study was to analyze long-term outcome after operative treatment of occipital cavernomas with special emphasis on visual outcome. Methods Of the 390 consecutive patients with cavernomas who were treated at Helsinki University Central Hospital between 1980 and 2011, 19 (5%) had occipital cavernomas. Sixteen patients (4%) were surgically treated and are included in this study. The median age was 39 years (range 3–59 years). Seven patients (56%) suffered from hemorrhage preoperatively, 5 (31%) presented with visual field deficits, 11 (69%) suffered from seizures, and 4 (25%) had multiple cavernomas. Surgery was indicated for progressive neurological deterioration. The median follow-up after surgery was 5.25 years (range 0.5–14 years). Results All patients underwent thorough neuroophthalmological assessment to determine visual outcome after surgery. Visual fields were classified as normal, mild homonymous visual field loss (not disturbing the patient, driving allowed), moderate homonymous visual field loss (disturbing the patient, driving prohibited), and severe visual field loss (total homonymous hemianopia or total homonymous quadrantanopia). At the last follow-up, 4 patients (25%) had normal visual fields, 6 (38%) had a mild visual field deficit, 1 (6%) complained of moderate visual field impairment, and 5 (31%) had severe homonymous visual field loss. Cavernomas seated deeper than 2 cm from the pial surface carried a 4.4-fold risk of postoperative visual field deficit relative to superficial ones (p = 0.034). Six (55%) of the 11 patients presenting with seizures were seizure-free postoperatively. Eleven (69%) of 16 patients had no disability during the long-term follow-up. Conclusions Surgical removal of occipital cavernomas may carry a significant risk of postoperative visual field deficit, and the risk is even higher for deeper lesions. Seizure outcome after removal of these cavernomas appeared to be worse than that after removal in other supratentorial locations. This should be taken into account during preoperative planning.

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Arteriovenous malformations in the optic apparatus: systematic literature review and report of four cases

Journal of Neurosurgery ◽

10.3171/2021.1.jns204162 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Visish M. Srinivasan ◽

Phiroz E. Tarapore ◽

Stefan W. Koester ◽

Joshua S. Catapano ◽

Caleb Rutledge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Acuity ◽

Visual Field ◽

Visual Function ◽

Arteriovenous Malformations ◽

Vascular Malformations ◽

Visual Fields ◽

Optic Tract ◽

Visual Disturbance ◽

Visual Field Defects ◽

Subtotal Resection

OBJECTIVE Rare arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the optic apparatus account for < 1% of all AVMs. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature for cases of optic apparatus AVMs and present 4 cases from their institution. The literature is summarized to describe preoperative characteristics, surgical technique, and treatment outcomes for these lesions. METHODS A comprehensive search of the English-language literature was performed in accordance with established Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to identify all published cases of AVM in the optic apparatus in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases. The authors also searched their prospective institutional database of vascular malformations for such cases. Data regarding the clinical and radiological presentation, visual acuity, visual fields, extent of resection, and postoperative outcomes were gathered. RESULTS Nine patients in the literature and 4 patients in the authors’ single-surgeon series who fit the inclusion criteria were identified. The median age at presentation was 29 years (range 8–39 years). Among these patients, 11 presented with visual disturbance, 9 with headache, and 1 with multiple prior subarachnoid hemorrhages; the AVM in 1 case was found incidentally. Four patients described prior symptoms of headache or visual disturbance consistent with sentinel events. Visual acuity was decreased from baseline in 10 patients, and 11 patients had visual field defects on formal visual field testing. The most common visual field defect was temporal hemianopia, found in one or both eyes in 7 patients. The optic chiasm was affected in 10 patients, the hypothalamus in 2 patients, the optic nerve (unilaterally) in 8 patients, and the optic tract in 2 patients. Six patients underwent gross-total resection; 6 patients underwent subtotal resection; and 1 patient underwent craniotomy, but no resection was attempted. Postoperatively, 9 of the patients had improved visual function, 1 had no change, and 3 had worse visual acuity. Eight patients demonstrated improved visual fields, 1 had no change, and 4 had narrowed fields. CONCLUSIONS AVMs of the optic apparatus are rare lesions. Although they reside in a highly eloquent region, surgical outcomes are generally good; the majority of patients will see improvement in their visual function postoperatively. Microsurgical technique is critical to the successful removal of these lesions, and preservation of function sometimes requires subtotal resection of the lesion.

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