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Optic nerve pits are a mono- or bilateral congenital anomaly represented by optic disc depressions of various sizes. In half of the cases, the pits are complicated by edema, central retinal detachment and retinoschisis, and cause visual function decrease. Visual acuity losses can be either insignificant or pronounced. Optic discs pits have been investigated massively over the last century and a half, but their etiology is still underresearched. In recent years, however, due to the development of digital scanning and data processing technologies and the emergence of non-invasive highly informative diagnostic methods, it has become possible to reveal structural and functional changes of the optic disc in vivo, in addition to the traditional detection of histological changes in cadaveric eyes.

Electrophysiological tests may be used to detect early glaucomatous changes and glaucoma progression risk and to monitor treatment efficacy. Most important pathogenic aspects of glaucomatous process, pathogenesis and multifactorial nature of glaucomatous optic neuropathy are described. Major triggers of glaucomatous optic neuropathy are mechanical and vascular. Principles of neuroprotective therapy, neuroprotective drugs, and mechanisms of action of direct and indirect neuroprotective agents are presented. IOPcc is a basis for neuroprotective therapy selection and its efficacy monitoring. Amongst neuroprotective drugs, NMDA agonists, antioxidants, peptides, and calcium channel blockers are of special importance. Structural damage and functional deficiency (e.g., visual field loss) in glaucoma and the most informative and accurate methods of their detection are characterized. Confocal laser microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and scanning laser polarimetry are compared. These techniques are used to study optic nerve head and retinal nerve fiber layer. They are proposed as diagnostic and monitoring tools for glaucoma, glaucoma suspicion, and ocular hypertension. The most sensitive and specific electrophysiological tests for glaucomatous optic neuropathy are pattern electroretinography, multfocal electroretinography, and multifocal visually evoked potentials.

Currently, there is a need to assess the condition of structures at the surgery site after glaucoma intervention due to the necessity to decide further treatment tactics after performed operations, as well as the possibility of developing more advanced methods of surgical treatment of glaucoma. Despite the fact that there are several methods of examining the filtration bleb (FB), some of them have both clear advantages and significant disadvantages. This article reviews the possibilities of using optical coherence tomography (OCT), ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM), thermography, confocal microscopy, and the Hyperemia-3 program for assessing the structural and functional state of the FB.

The article describes a difficult case of differential diagnosis of local choroiditis developed after influenza (flu) vaccination in a patient with bronchial asthma who receives systemic steroid therapy.