The neuro-ophthalmology conference in progress in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, May 29: About 150 eye specialists from across the country gathered in the state capital today to discuss current trends and techniques in diagnosis and management of neural eye disorders.

The occasion was mid-term conference on neuro-ophthalmology organised by Bihar Opthalmological Society at Planetarium auditorium.

The daylong conference was attended by neurologists and doctors from New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Calcutta. The event was inaugurated by Dr Ajit Sinha, senior ophthalmologist and head of neuro-ophthalmology wing of Dr RP Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. On the occasion, noted neuro-ophthalmologist Vimala Menon spoke on current trends in diagnosis and management of optic neuritis, a condition of swelling of the optic nerve of the eye that causes irreversible loss of vision. She also delivered talk on paralysis of eye muscles, which causes double vision and emphasised that alcohol poisoning could cause permanent vision loss. Experts pointed out that some commonly detected diseases that a neuro-ophthalmologist may find include optic neuritis, optic neuropathy (abnormality of optic nerve), optic disc edema (swelling of the optic nerve), brain tumors or stroke affecting vision, unexplained visual loss, headaches, double vision, hemi-facial spasm.

Dr Randhir Kumar Jha explained visual-field loss in neurological diseases. Senior doctor from AIIMS Dr Rohit Saxena discussed papillary abnormality and atrophy of optic nerve — the nerve responsible for carrying visual signal to the brain.

Dr Subhash Prasad, a veteran eye-specialist in the capital and secretary of Bihar Opthalmological Society said that neuro-ophthalomogy, a subspecialty that deals with diseases of the eye, which is directly related to brain and its disorder.

“Eye is developmentally a part of the brain. Out of the 12 pairs cranial nerves originating from the brain, six pairs of nerve directly control various functions of eye and subsidiary parts. Hence any malfunction of any of these nerves affects the eyes. On one hand, various intra-cranial disorders manifests as eye problem on the other hand certain abnormalities of eye can signal serious problems of brain. That is why eye is said to be the mirror of brain. This is one subspecialty of eye where a close interaction between an ophthalmologists and neurologists is needed,” said Prasad during his deliberation. Former consultant of Sankar Nethralaya, Chennai, Dr Nitin Shetty spoke on various investigations to diagnose neuro-ophthalmological problems. Noted neurologist of Patna, Dr S.K. Jha spoke about causes and treatment of headache.

During the event, Menon was honoured with Dr RPH Sinha oration gold medal. President of the society Dr S.K. Verma and chairman scientific committee Dr Pranav Ranjan also addressed the gathering.

Many renowned ophthalmologists from the capital, Dr J.N. Rohtagi, Dr P.C. Gupta, Dr B. Chaudhary, Dr A.S.B. Sahay, Dr V.N. Prasad, and Dr Reyaz Hassan attended the conference.