Decoding the Ophthalmology Note: Understanding Clinical Symptoms and Physical Examination Findings in the Context of Imaging Pathology

Orbital and visual pathway pathology often leads to readily apparent symptoms and physical examination findings. Although in-office testing does provide clues to the underlying problem, further diagnostic workup and confirmatory imaging tests may be necessary. For the interpreting radiologist to use the correct protocol for a study and to tailor an appropriate differential diagnosis, a basic understanding of the ophthalmology note, anatomy of the eye and visual apparatus, and the more common ophthalmologic concerns is crucial. The purpose of this review was to provide the radiologist with the ophthalmologist's perspective on abnormalities of the eye and vision, supplemented by correlative clinic notes and imaging examples.

Learning Objective: Review the critical portions of the ophthalmologic examination and in-office tests, their documentation, and how these data may be used for enhancing image interpretation.