Visual function following optic canal decompression via craniotomy.

Visual function was assessed in 15 eyes of 11 patients who underwent unilateral (seven patients) or bilateral (four patients) optic canal decompression for presumed compressive optic neuropathies. Both immediate and long-term postoperative vision was evaluated in all eyes. Over 90% of the eyes that had undergone nerve decompression had either the same or improved visual acuity and visual field immediately following surgery. In this group of patients there were no deaths and there was only one postoperative complication, a transient dysphasia caused by an epidural hematoma that was evacuated. Long-term follow-up evaluations revealed that most of the eyes retained their immediate postoperative visual function or showed gradual visual improvement with time. The results of this series as well as a review of the available literature indicate that optic canal decompression via craniotomy can be a safe procedure and that it appears to have lasting visual benefit in many patients.