Subretinal fluid is common in experimental non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy

Purpose Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) is an important cause of acute vision loss for which several animal models exist. It has been associated with subretinal fluid in a previous study on patients but not yet so in animal models. Patients and Methods A patient presented with acute non-arteritic AION (NAION) and underwent ophthalmic evaluation and testing including fluorescein angiography and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). On the basis of the patient's findings, we used SD-OCT circular and volume scans to analyze retinal changes in a murine model of NAION. Results One week after left eye vision loss, the patient had clinical and imaging findings consistent with NAION. On SD-OCT, there was prominent peripapillary retinal thickening consistent with intra-retinal edema and sub-foveolar fluid. Inspired by the findings in human AION, we looked for similar changes in murine NAION using SD-OCT. The circular scan did not adequately detect the presence of subretinal fluid. Using the 25-line scan, which covered a larger part of the posterior pole, we found that 100% of murine AION resulted in subretinal fluid at day 1. The subretinal fluid resolved by week 1. Conclusion This study detailed a case of clinical NAION associated with intra-retinal and subretinal fluid. We also found that subretinal fluid was common in murine photochemical thrombosis model of AION and could be found far away from the optic disc.