Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy due to biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis in Thai patients.

Giant cell arteritis is a systemic granulomatous vasculitis affecting medium to large arteries. An arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy is the most common cause of permanent visual loss. Giant cell arteritis is very rare among Asians. We report six patients with biopsy-proven arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. Demographic data, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, treatment, and visual outcome are described in detail and compared with Caucasian patients. We found no differences in any clinical features except for sex preference. Moreover, perioptic nerve sheath enhancement was observed in half of our patients.