Improvement of long-term blindness caused by compression from inner-third sphenoid wing meningioma after optic canal decompression: An extremely rare case report

BACKGROUND: There has been no previous case report of a patient whose visual acuity improved after long-term blindness caused by tumor invasion into the optic canal. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 65-year-old Asian woman presented with a 6-month history of blindness caused by a meningioma located on the inner third of the sphenoid ridge. An operation was performed to prevent further tumor invasion into the cavernous sinus and contralateral optic nerve. During surgery, optic canal decompression was performed using an epidural approach. Subtotal removal of the tumor was achieved. Two days after the surgery, her left visual acuity recovered from blindness. CONCLUSION: Normally, long-term blindness caused by optic nerve compression by a brain tumor is regarded as irreversible, and even a surgical excision of the optic nerve is performed in some cases. However, because we experienced a case in which the patient recovered from long-term blindness after optic canal decompression, we believe that this surgical procedure should definitely be considered as an option.