Fine needle aspiration biopsy was useful in establishing the diagnosis in all 5 eyes in which it was performed. Mean survival was 13 months after diagnosis of the disc metastasis. It can occur as invasion from a juxtapapillary choroidal metastasis or as isolated optic disc metastasis. Breast and lung cancers are the most common primary neoplasms that account for metastasis to the optic disc. The characteristic clinical features of optic disc metastasis should help differentiate it from other causes of swollen optic disc.
Patient prognosis is poor.
Accepted for publication September 4, 1999. Presented as part of the 1999 Bjerrum Lecture, Danish Ophthalmological Society, Copenhagen, Denmark, December 4, 1999. All rights reserved.