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| Neuro-ophthalmology |
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Patient Population
The Neuro-ophthalmology Unit provides diagnostic and treatment services
for more than 3,500 ambulatory patients per year. Neuro-ophthalmology
and neuro-otology are the disciplines concerned with the physiology,
diagnosis and management of diseases involving the visual pathways,
the control of eye movements, and vestibular circuits in the cranial
nerves, brain stem, cerebellum, and cerebral hemispheres.
Patients served by this Program include those with loss of vision, visual
disturbances caused by eye movement abnormalities and vertigo or balance
difficulty.
Education
Education of residents, graduate students, postgraduate students, and
postdoctoral fellows is a fundamental function of the program. Residents
in neurology, neurosurgery, otolaryngology and ophthalmology acquire
an understanding of visual and vestibular neuroscience through participation
in the ambulatory program.
Research
This research program has sustained continuous support from the Medical
Research Council of Canada for 28 years (from 1974 through 2002) at
Toronto Western Hospital.
The physiology of disordered gaze and vestibulo-ocular reflex functions
are being investigated in normal humans and patients with lesions of the
cerebral hemispheres, brainstem and cerebellum and in patients with acquired
and developmental strabismus. Parallel studies in animals are performed
in our vestibular-ocular motor neurophysiology laboratory. Correlation
of disorders of saccadic eye movement, head movement, smooth pursuit,
and vestibulo-ocular reflex disorders with the site, nature and evolution
of brain lesions:
- Clarifies the anatomical and physiological bases of ocular motor and
vestibular control in normal humans and animals,
- Provides sensitive
quantitative parameters of abnormal brain function,
- Establishes
bases for understanding and managing disabilities suffered by patients
with disorders of vision, gaze, and equilibrium caused by
diseases of the nervous system.
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