Large Optic Disks

Vol. 107, No. 2

147

Such physiologic cupping as defined above

was found in 20 of 22 eyes (91%) with large
optic disks, but in only eight of 32 eyes (25%)

with small disks. When cup vs disk diameter
was plotted, the two variables were found to be
number of eyes

linearly related (Fig. 3),

15 1.6 4.7 18 19 2.0 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
disc diameter (mm)

Fig. 1 (Maisel and associates). Disk diameter plotted against number of eyes. Quantitative analysis of
patients selected for photographs demonstrates 22
eyes with megalopapilla with average disk diameters
greater than or equal to 2.1 mm.

mean was equal to 0.62." Because two or more
standard deviations above the mean accounted
for only 7.5% of their study population, 0.6 or
more was accepted as the criterion for a large
cup/disk ratio in our study.’ This criterion is in
agreement with Syndacker’s work’ in which he
concluded that optic disks with physiologic
cupping exceeding 0.66 occur so infrequently
that it is to be considered pathologic until
proven otherwise.

Rim area—When rim area was plotted against
disk area, it was found that in this study population, rim and disk areas vary directly (Fig. 4).
Radiation exposure-—Of the 36 patients, 19 had
a history of accidental exposure to external
whole-body radiation during atmospheric nuclear testing in 1954. Nine patients from the
Rongelap atoll received an estimated 1.75 Gy
(175 rad) and the ten patients from theisland of
Utirik received approximately 0.14 Gy (14 rad).°
Of the 36 patients in this study, 19 (a group
different from the 19 above) had acceptable
photographs of both eyes: 12 of these 19 had
been exposed to radiation, five had not, and in
two the data were not available. A comparison
of the disk sizes in the 12 exposed and five
nonexposed patients demonstrates that the two
groups haverelatively the same proportion of
patients with large disks (Table 1).
Evidence of glaucoma—-Features considered to
be consistent with glaucomatous optic disk
damage other than cupping, such as notching
of the neural rim, disk asymmetry, vertical disk

cupping, and increased intraocular pressure
were investigated. Examination of the neural
rim of the optic disk showed 360 degrees of
pink neural tissue without notching in all
cases. In the 19 patients for whom data were
available on both eyes, two had asymmetric

Fig. 2 (Maisel and associates). Example of bilateral megalopapilla. Left, Right disk diameter of 2.3 mm. Right,

Left disk diameter of 2.2 mm.

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