Introduction Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of diabetes and remains the leading cause of blindness in people less than 65 years old worldwide. It affects 30-40% of patients with diabetes and is associated with an increased risk of life-threatening vascular complications, including acute coronary syndrome, congestive heart failure and stroke. Risk Factors that…
When is it optic atrophy? The optic nerve comprises of 1.2 million myelinated axons. Once damaged, the axons do not regenerate (behaves more like a white matter tract than a true peripheral nerve). Thus optic atrophy is the common morphological endpoint of any optic neuropathy. Clinically, the neuro-retinal rim of the optic disc (the area…
When is it true optic disc edema? The optic nerve head consists of a bundle of densely packed axons from 1.2 million retinal ganglion cells and also encases the central retinal artery and vein. Thus, true optic disc swelling should have both mechanical and vascular signs present. The above photo (Figure 1) illustrates a typical…
In this video, one can appreciate that the patient has a lower motor neuron type of weakness affecting the right facial nerve. On asking the patient to look upwards (stimulation of the frontalis muscles), one can appreciate the lack of wrinkles over the forehead on the right side compared with the left. On asking the…
A lumbar puncture (LP, also known as a spinal tap) is a diagnostic and at times, therapeutic medical procedure. Diagnostic indications The main diagnostic indications of performing a LP is for collection and evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for diagnosis and exclusion of infectious, inflammatory and neoplastic diseases affecting the central nervous system. For example,…