Introduction
The Basic and Clinical Science Course has undergone continuous evolution since its inception. These volumes originated as a topic outline with suggested reading lists, including primary and secondary sources for each topic. In recent years, the books have grown into far more detailed reviews of each of the ophthalmic subspecialties, taking on many of the attributes of textbooks.
Section 5, Neuro-Ophthalmology, has likewise evolved. In 2001, the text was reorganized to take a symptom-driven approach, focusing on how to approach patients with neuro-ophthalmic complaints. The emphasis is on the examination of the patient—both basic and extended—and the appropriate use of adjunctive studies to determine the status of the patient’s visual system as a whole. With this edition, we hope the reader will find the content to be improved in terms of both the approach to the diagnosis and to the management of a patient with neuro-ophthalmic disease. We have also continued to revise and update the content, illustrative material (figures), tables, and references. One particularly significant modification for this edition is Chapter 8’s title change from “The Patient With Diplopia” to “The Patient With Abnormal Ocular Motility or Diplopia.” This title change reflects that not all patients with abnormal ocular motility will have diplopia, and that not all patients with diplopia will have abnormal eye movements. In addition, Chapters 7 and 8 switched position from the previous edition; “The Patient With Supranuclear Disorders of Ocular Motility” now follows “The Patient With Abnormal Ocular Motility or Diplopia.” These chapters were swapped so that the reader will now read an introduction on the basic concepts of eye movements and examination findings prior to delving into the potentially daunting task of understanding supranuclear ocular motility disorders and nystagmus (Chapter 9).
This book is in no way meant to be an all-encompassing or comprehensive treatise; thus, we have included a list of some of the more useful secondary sources of information, as well as references with primary source material. As with all the prior major revisions, we have endeavored to make this book more readable as well as clinically relevant and hope that it will help to instill confidence in ophthalmologists to approach patients with common clinical neuro-ophthalmic problems.
In several chapters throughout the book, you will see links to the NOVEL (Neuro-Ophthalmology Virtual Education Library) website of NANOS (North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society). This is a web-accessible collection of images, video, lectures, and other digital media, containing open-access, copyrighted resources. Once you have accessed the collections, you can navigate through to the relevant resources. See the NOVEL website for more information: https://novel.utah.edu/.
Excerpted from BCSC 2020-2021 series: Section 5 - Neuro-Ophthalmology. For more information and to purchase the entire series, please visit https://www.aao.org/bcsc.