Ischemic optic neuropathy in rheumatoid arthritis, [case report]

Fundus lesions in rheumatoid arthritis due to vasculitis affecting the eye are rare. Our patient was a 58 years old female who presented with seropositive. Erosive rheumatoid arthritis during a period of exacerbation of her arthritis, she developed impairment of vision in the right eye due to ischaemic optic neuropthy and the most likely cause of this was rheumatoid vasculitis. The disc was treated with corticosteroid and immunosuppressive drugs but there was very little improvement of her vision. Other causes such as malignant hypertension, diabetes mellitus, systemic lupus erythematosus, polyarteritis nodosa, progressive systemic sclerosis, dermatiomyositis and temporal arteritis were excluded