Curative effects of different intravenous methylprednisolone and dexamethasone doses on acute optic neuritis treatment

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of corticosteroids in acute optic neuritis through study of different doses of intravenous methylprednisolone and dexamethasone.Methods: 62 cases with 97 eyes diagnosed as acute optic neuritis were randomly divided into 3 groups.They were treated with 0.5 g/d,1.0 g/d methylprednisolone and 10~15 mg/d dexamethasone,intravenous infusion of 3~6 d,followed by oral prednisone 40 mg/d.Then,reduced the doses slowly based on their visual acuity,relative afferent pupillary defect(RAPD) and the side effect of corticosteroids.Results: Recovery of visual acuity in 1.0 g/d methylprednisolone group was faster than that in dexamethasone group(P=0.046),but there was no significant difference between dexamethasone group and 0.5 g/d methylprednisolone group(P=0.103).Conclusion: Intravenous methylprednisolone 1.0 g/d is an effective treatment of acute optic neuritis.It is important to give patients large doses of hormone as soon as possible for better curative effects and maintaining a longer medicine efficacy time.