Morning Glory Optic Nerve Coloboma

For five patients six eyes we report.

Morning glory optic nerve coloboma. A retrospective review of patients with optic nerve coloboma or morning glory syndrome with associated retinal detachment or retinoschisis was conducted. In morning glory syndrome the optic nerve is located centrally and surrounded by a deeply excavated scleral defect. Morning glory syndrome mgs is a birth congenital defect of the nerve of the eye optic nerve that resembles a flower known as morning glory it is characterized by an enlarged funnel shaped cavity of the optic disc the point in the eye where the optic nerve fibers leave the retina the disc is enlarged and has a white center giving the appearance of a white pupil. Therefore the traditional classification schemes that describe varieties of cavitary optic disc anomalies should be.

The primary differential diagnosis is the optic nerve coloboma. Morning glory disc anomaly and optic nerve coloboma. Fluid sometimes accumulates within and beneath the retina but the origin of the fluid remains. There are some similarities to optic disc coloboma with interference in the closure of the posterior aspect of the fetal fissure.

Thus the morning glory disc is sometimes misdiagnosed as an optic nerve coloboma. Colobomas affect only the inferior aspect of the nerve as it represents an incomplete closure of the embryonic fissure whereas mgda encompasses all aspects of the nerve and represents more generally a dysgenesis of the mesoderm. Colobomas affect only the inferior aspect of the nerve as it represents an incomplete closure of the embryonic fissure whereas mgda encompasses all aspects of the nerve and represents more generally a dysgenesis of the mesoderm. 1 department of ophthalmology university of florida college of medicine gainesville fl 32610 usa.

It is important to differentiate from a morning glory disc anomaly because optic nerve colobomas can be associated with systemic syndromes such as charge coloboma of the eye heart defects choanal atresia growth. One gene defect can result in a variety of optic disc abnormalities. Morning glory disc anomaly is almost universally a sporadic condition whereas optic nerve coloboma is commonly familial and may occur in association with multisystem congenital malformation syndromes 1. An optic nerve coloboma is easily differentiated from morning glory anomaly.

Remarkably a myriad of morphologic variations of phenotype were expressed including optic disc pits morning glory syndrome and coloboma of the optic nerve. The etiology of morning glory disc anomaly is poorly understood. In optic disc colobomas the area of the optic disc is usually enlarged and the coloboma involves the inferior portion of the nerve.