Permanent Visual Loss as a Complication of Decompressive Surgery for the Treatment of Posterior Fossa Tumours: A Report of Two Cases

ABSTRACT

Posterior fossa tumours are one of the most common types of solid neoplasia in paediatric patients. Although impaired vision can occur at presentation, it usually stabilises or improves after decompressive surgery. However, cases of permanent and profound visual loss have been reported following successful tumour resection, despite receiving little attention from the medical community. In this paper, we present two cases of young patients who experienced severe and permanent visual loss following uncomplicated surgery for posterior fossa tumour removal. We discuss the possible mechanism involved in the visual loss and measures to prevent such a dreadful complication.

KEYWORDS:

• Post-decompression optic neuropathy
• posterior fossa tumour
• visual loss
• ventriculoperitoneal shunt
• intracranial hypertension

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contribution

fLeonardo Eleuterio Ariello made substantial contributions to conceptualisation, design, the acquisition of data and writing the manuscript. contributed by writing up the manuscript. Thais S A Benassi and Mario L. R Monteiro analysed and interpreted the data and critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade

de São Paulo. Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. CAAE: 67165423.5.0000.0068

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.