Optic nerve decompression remains useful as a salvage procedure for conventional dose steroid failed cases of traumatic optic neuropathy. In cases that are not completely blind, vision can be improved even when surgery is undertaken a few months after the injury.

Fifty children with indirect optic nerve injury were prospectively studied over an 8-year period. They constituted 20% of all patients with optic nerve injury managed on a slightly different protocol. Half of these children were injured due to fall from a height, followed by road traffic accidents in 40% of the cases. Forty-three children had unilateral and 7 children had bilateral visual impairment. Five children had definite history of delayed-onset visual involvement, which ranged from 12 to 72 h following injury. Fifty percent of these children had fractured skulls and 14% had optic canal fracture. Visual evoked potentials were performed in 43 patients of which wave formation was normal in 7 and abnormal in 14 patients. The remaining 22 patients had no wave formation. All the patients were managed conservatively and received corticosteroids for a period of 3 weeks. In 7 children an optic nerve decompression was performed between 4 and 6 weeks following injury. Spontaneous visual improvement was observed in 20 (40%) children. In all the patients onset of visual recovery was noticed within 3 weeks. Of the 7 children who had optic nerve decompression, 4 had minimal spontaneous recovery and their vision remained static. All these 4 children benefited by surgery and the vision improved further following the decompression. Three children had no perception of light prior to surgery and none of these patients showed visual improvement following surgery. The present study brings out the clinical profile of children with optic nerve injury and the indications of surgery in these patients.

Blunt head injury frequently results in visual impairment, the optimal treatment of which is still debated. Over a 5-year-period (1987-1991) 111 patients with indirect optic nerve injury resulting from closed head trauma have been treated. In each case loss of vision was the only neurological deficit. In group A, 66 patients were initially treated with large doses of prednisolone (80 mg/day) for 3 weeks. Twenty-seven patients improved on steroids alone. In the remaining 39 patients in whom either unsatisfactory or no improvement occurred a transethmoidal optic nerve decompression was performed. Twenty-two patients in the latter group improved, thus yielding an overall improvement rate of 74.2% in group A. Group B (control), in which 45 patients were treated with prednisolone only (80 mg/day for 3 weeks), had an overall improvement rate of 51% (23 patients). The study reveals that while nearly half of such patients can improve on steroids alone, optic nerve decompression significantly improves recovery rates in patients where conservative treatment is unsatisfactory (P < 0.05). Total loss of vision not responding to steroids, absence of waveform on visual evoked response, and presence of an optic canal fracture indicate a poor prognosis.

In the last six years, anterior mandibulotomy was used to approach tumours of the oropharynx and oral cavity in 39 cases. Twenty-six of these had primary lesions in the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. Eight cases had lesions in the base tongue, three in the cheek, and two in the tonsil. Twenty-six cases had T3 tumours, nine had T2 lesions, and four had T4 tumours. Twenty-five patients received post-operative radiotherapy. In 16 cases the mandibulotomy was combined with a marginal mandibulectomy. In 23 cases reconstruction was carried out using a pectoralis major myocutaneous flap. Adequate margins on histopathology obtained in all but eight patients. Bone-related complications occurred in only three patients, all of whom were previously irradiated. Thus the anterior mandibulotomy provides excellent exposure for oral and oropharyngeal tumours, with low complication rate, and avoidance of segmental mandibulectomy.

In a nine-year period 50 nasopharyngeal angiofibromas, of whom 13 had recurrent tumour, were treated surgically at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. A new staging system according to the regions involved was used; 31 patients in whom the tumour was limited to the nasopharynx (Stage I) and those with superior spread into the ethmoid or sphenoid sinuses (Stage IIA) had their tumours removed by a transpalatal route, alone or in combination with other approaches. Tumours with lateral extensions into the pterygopalatine or infratemporal fossae or the cheek (Stage IIB), and those with simultaneous superior and lateral spread (Stage HI) underwent a transmaxillary excision (19 cases). In two of the three cases with intracranial extension (Stage IV), the tumour was removed successfully from below. There was no mortality. The usefulness of the transmaxillary approach, especially in recurrent cases, is emphasized. No adjuvant modalities were employed in this series and blood loss was acceptable.