Acute inflammatory demyelinating optic neuritis: current concepts in diagnosis and management

Although the vision prognosis of patients with ON is excellent, with or without the use of corticosteroids, a minority of patients will suffer from significantly poor vision. ON may be the heralding manifestation of MS; the risk stratification for the future development of MS in patients presenting with ON can be determined by the number of white matter lesions on the baseline cerebral magnetic resonance imaging study. To date, 2 randomized, placebo-controlled studies have found that patients with a clinically isolated demyelinating syndrome, such as ON, at risk for MS, may benefit from the early institution of a disease-modifying drug.