[A role of laser retinal tomography in the study of patients with congestive optical disks].

A Heidelberg retina tomograph II was used to examine 35 (55 eyes) patients with intracranial hypertension caused by brain tumors. Ophthalmoscopy revealed no changes in the optic disk in 6 eyes, mild, moderate, and severe congestive optic disks (COD) in 6, 14, and 29 eyes, respectively. The volume of the neuroretinal rim (V) and the area of the Optic disk (S) were measured. There was a significant difference in V (p < 0.01) and S (p < or = 0.02) with the intact optic disk, in mild, moderate, and severe COD. One-week-to-one-month follow-ups after tumor removal showed that in 12 patients the positive or negative changes, as evidenced by the readings of a retina tomograph, corresponded to those in the ophthalmoscopic pattern. Laser retinal tomography is an objective and accurate study of the stereometric parameters of COD in patients with intracranial hypertension, which permits a follow-up of COD.