Clinical physiology of the central parts of the visual system

Abstract

The article is a review of literature related to anatomy and function of the central visual pathways from the optic nerves, chiasm, optic tracts, lateral genicular body to the higher cortical centers. The focus is on the presenting clinical syndromes and subsequent lesion localization. In this review the evidence for retrograde trans-synaptic degeneration following acquired post-geniculate human visual pathway damage are discussed and proved by optical coherence tomography data. It has been shown that knowledge of the anatomy and functions of the central parts of the visual system allows to determine both the topic of the pathological process in the brain, and to evaluate the results of surgical and radiation treatment.