Autoimmune Optic Neuropathy

The term autoimmune optic neuropathy has been used in the literature with a broad meaning despite that it defines a relatively specific clinical syndrome. In its broad sense, it has be used to describe the presence of any optic neuropathy, be it inflammatory, vasculopathic, or demyelinating, chronic or monophasic, in a patient with an autoimmune process. In his recent paper, Goodwin defines the broad classification of autoimmune optic neuropathy as 'any disease in which autoimmune mechanisms, usually with inflammation as the executive agency, causes damage to any component of one or both optic nerves."