Curative effect of large dose of methylprednisolone on acute retrobulbar neuritis

Objective: To investigate the curative effects of large dose methyl-prednisoxlone therapy on acute retrobulbar neuritis,and to explore a safe and effective treatment for the disease.Methods: A total of 66 cases(112 eyes) admitted to our hospital from December 2007 and June 2011 were randomly divided into observation group and control group with 33 cases in each group(n=56 eyes).The control group was given conventional therapy of dexamethasone,while the observation group was treated with methylprednisolone pulse therapy.Recent and long term therapeutic effects as well as side effects were observed and compared.Results:After 7 days of treatment,the observation group showed significant better therapeutic effects than the control group(P0.05),but the difference was not significant after 3 months of treatment(P0.05).The observation group showed significant higher incidence of adverse reactions such as facial flushing,excited insomnia,gastrointestinal discomfort,glucose,elevated blood pressure,low blood potassium than the control group(P0.05).Conclusions: High-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy can improve the acute retrobulbar optic neuritis in early stage,but the long term efficacy was not significantly differed from that of the conventional dose therapy,besides,high-dose therapy may induce multiple adverse reactions.