Cause
Diagnosis
Prompt diagnosis is critical, since the sudden blindness in the one eye is often followed, within days, by similar sudden blindness in the second eye. Treatment may prevent further damage (see below). Any patient diagnosed with non-arteritic AION over the age of 50 must be asked about the constitutional symptoms mentioned above. Furthermore, AION patients over the age of 75 should often be blood tested regardless. Treatment
AAION requires urgent and critical intervention with a very long course of corticosteroids to prevent further damage. While this treatment is in itself problematic, non-treatment leads to bilateral blindness and strokes.There is much research currently underway looking at ways to protect the nerve (neuroprotection) or even regenerate new fibers within the optic nerve. References
Myron Yanoff et al., Ophthalmology, 2nd ed. (C.V. Mosby, 2004), chapt. 191. UpToDate article "Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of giant cell (temporal) arteritis"

External links
The Use of Botulinum Toxin in a Case of Acquired Periodic Alternating Nystagmus
Retroviral replicating vectors
Led by Prof. Nori Kasahara, researchers from USC, who are now at UCLA, reported in 2001 the first successful example of applying the use of retroviral replicating vectors towards transducing cell lines derived from solid tumors. Building on this initial work, the researchers applied the technology to in vivo models of cancer and in 2005 reported a long-term survival benefit in an experimental brain tumor animal model. Subsequently, in preparation for human clinical trials, this technology was further developed by Tocagen (a pharmaceutical company primarily focused on brain cancer treatments) as a combination treatment (Toca 511 & Toca FC). This has been under investigation since 2010 in a Phase I/II clinical trial for the potential treatment of recurrent high-grade glioma including glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and anaplastic astrocytoma. No results have yet been published. Non-invasive detection
Efforts to detect and monitor development and treatment response of brain tumors by liquid biopsy from blood, cerebrospinal fluid or urine, are in the early stages of development. See also
Brain
Tumor
Nervous system neoplasm
List of brain tumor cases

References
External links

Brain and CNS cancers at Curlie
Brain tumour information from Cancer Research UK
Neuro-Oncology: Cancer Management Guidelines
MedPix Teaching File MR Scans of Primary Brain Lymphoma, etc.