Background and Purpose: The relation between anterior ischemic optic neuropathy and carotid artery atherosclerotic disease is unclear. We studied patients with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy to determine if they had an increased occurrence of carotid artery stenosis.Methods: Fifteen consecutive patients with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy were evaluated prospectively for cervical carotid artery stenosis and compared with 30 age-and sex-matched asymptomatic patients and also with 11 age-and sex-matched patients experiencing transient monocular blindness.Results: There was no difference in the mean stenosis of the internal carotid artery between patients with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (mean carotid stenosis, 19%) and asymptomatic patients (mean carotid stenosis, 9%;/»>0.05), whereas patients with transient monocular blindness had significantly more stenosis (mean, 77%) in the cervical carotid arteries than both control subjects (p<0.0001) and patients with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (p<0.0001). There was also no difference in the percentage of patients with stenosis >30% in anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (two of 15) and asymptomatic patients (five of 30), whereas 10 of 11 patients with transient monocular blindness had stenoses >30%, significantly more than patients with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (p<0.0001) and asymptomatic patients (p<0.0001).Conclusions: Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy is not a marker for atherosclerotic carotid artery stenosis. The pathogenesis of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy does not involve carotid artery stenosis in most patients.
Plasminogen deficiency is a rare disorder complicated by the subsequent formation of firm "woody" plaques in the eye (ligneous conjunctivitis) or other mucosal sites as the result of inflammation or trauma. The plaques are composed of fibrinogen, granulation tissue, and inflammatory cells. The findings may be considered nonspecific by the unsuspecting surgical pathologist and delay the appropriate diagnosis. We report the first case of lymph node involvement with characteristic eosinophilic hyaline deposits that are periodic acid Schiff positive, stain dark red with Masson trichrome, and contain fibrinogen as detected by immunofluorescence and describe the longitudinal evolution of this patient's disease over a 15-year period. The differential diagnosis of amorphous hyaline material in lymph node biopsies is discussed.
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