Drusen of the optic nerve associated with retinitis pigmentosa

A. Puck, M. O. Tso and G. A. Fishman

Globular excrescences of the optic nerve associated with retinitis pigmentosa have been interpreted as drusen or as astrocytic hamartomas. The histopathologic and ultrastructural findings of globular excrescences of the peripapillary region of the optic nerve associated with retinitis pigmentosa were described in a 22-year-old patient who died in a car accident. From our findings we conclude that the globular excrescences of the optic nerve associated with retinitis pigmentosa are definitely drusen and not astrocytic hamartomas.