Tapering Oral Steroid Treatment After IV Methylprednisolone Pulse Therapy in Demyelinating Optic Neuritis

Background: Optic neuritis is an inflammation of the optic nerve. Because of importance of vision for human, management of optic neuritis is an important issue in neurology. Objectives: This study aimed at assessing the effect of oral steroid treatment after intravenous (IV) methylprednisolone therapy on demyelinating optic neuritis. Materials & Methods: 60 Patients with first episode of acute demyelinating optic neuritis who referred to a neurology clinic in an academic hospital in south-west of Iran in 2015-2016 included in this randomized double-blind clinical trial study (No: IRCT2015102724735N1). They were divided into two groups with (A) and without (B) tapering oral steroid treatment after IV methylprednisolone. Visual acuity and color vision were measured before treatment, before oral tapering, 1 and 3 months after treatment. Independent t-test in SPSS software version 20 was used to analyze the data. P<0.05 was considered as the level of significance. Results: Visual acuity in two groups did not have any significant difference in any time point of assessment (P>0.05).Frequency of color vision abnormality in groups A and B were at baseline (53.3% vs. 56.6%) (P=0.796), before oral tapering (43.3% vs. 30%, P=0.284), 1 month after treatment (23.3% vs. 30%, P=0.559), 3 months after treatment (0% vs. 23%, P=0.011). Conclusion: Oral steroid treatment after IV methylprednisolone pulse therapy improves color vision after 3 months in patients with demyelinating optic neuritis but has no effect on visual acuity.