Postoperative visual recovery following surgical treatment of suprasellar meningiomas

Introduction. The purpose of this study was to investigate pre- and postoperative visual acuity in patients with meningioma in the area of optic chiasm. Material and Methods. This retrospective study included 43 patients with meningioma in the area of optic chiasm, who had been found to have impaired visual function according to anamnestic data and neuro-ophthalmologic examination which excluded the presence of any other eye diseases. The visual status was analyzed both preoperatively and postoperatively, i.e. 10 days, one month and six months after surgery. Results. An improvement in visual acuity was recorded in 50% of the examined eyes (68.42% of patients), the most expressed changes being in terms of higher number of the eyes with normalized visual acuity and lower number of the eyes with severely reduced visual acuity after surgery. These changes were particularly prominent immediately after surgery, during the first ten days. Conclusion. The recovery of visual acuity after decompression in the area of optic chiasm is possible in cases where mechanical pressure on the nerve fibres and resulting fibre ischemia have not lasted long enough to lead to their irreversible damage.