THE OPTIC nerve, by virtue of its anatomic position, acts as a pathway for disease within the orbit, on the one hand, and disease within the cranium, on the other. Because of this fact, it is not surprising that the interdependence of ophthalmologists and neurosurgeons with regard to certain problems concerning tumors of the optic nerve continues to exist. A discussion of some aspects of these tumors will serve to illustrate this relationship.
The earlier communications concerning tumors of the optic nerve were confined almost solely to their intraorbital manifestations. The characteristic history of a child with progressive loss of vision in one or both eyes together with painless unilateral proptosis was in itself suggestive of an intraorbital tumor of the optic nerve. With the development of neurosurgery, the region of the optic chiasm became exposed with greater frequency and safety. Craniotomy performed in search of an intrasellar or a