Progress in evidence-based medicine for the treatment of optic neuritis / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Optic neuritis is a common optic neuropathy,which typically presents with sudden loss of vision.Visual deficit of optic neuritis varies in severity and generally can be improved spontaneously over several-month duration.The most convincing eight evidences from level Ⅰ and Ⅱ evidence of evidence-based medicine( EBM ) about the treatment of all the optic neuritis were collected by searching theCochrane Controlled TrialsRegister (CENTRAL),MEDLINE,EMBASE and reference lists of identified trial reports since the last decade.At present,the latest findings showed that there is no conclusive evidence of benefit in terms of recovery to normal visual acuity,visual field or contrast sensitivity with either intravenous or oral corticosteroids at the doses evaluated in trials included in this review.Either no treatment or intravenous corticosteroid therapy followed by oral corticosteroids is appropriate,and intravenous corticosteroid may benefit the patient in terms of faster recovery to normal vision.There may be of different treatment of optic neuritis in China compared to Western countries due to geographical,racial and genetic background that may cause different etiology and clinical features of optic neuritis.Therefore,in China,it is imperative to carry out a large randomized control trial(RCT) of optic neuritis as soon as possible to get the best evidence for the management of optic neuritis patients.