Wilbrand knee (optic radiation)

Last revised by Rohit Sharma on 3 May 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Sharma R, Campos A, Wilbrand knee (optic radiation). Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 18 May 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-100092

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-100092

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/100092

rID:

100092

Article created:

24 May 2022, Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had the following disclosures:

Radiopaedia Australia Pty Ltd, Founder and CEO (ongoing)
Biogen Australia Pty Ltd, Investigator-Initiated Research Grant for CAD software development in multiple sclerosis (past)

These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

3 May 2024, Rohit Sharma ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Rohit Sharma had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Rohit Sharma's current disclosures

Revisions:

3 times, by 3 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Central Nervous System

Sections:

Anatomy

The Wilbrand knee refers to a small anterior loop of axons from the medial retina passing a short distance into the contralateral prechiasmatic optic nerve after decussating in the optic chiasm. It is said to account for the occurrence of the junctional scotoma caused by lesions at the junction of the optic nerve and chiasm; characterized by ipsilateral central scotoma with additional superior temporal visual field defect in the contralateral eye.

The existence of the Wilbrand knee is, however, controversial and some research suggests that it is an artifact resulting from long-term enucleation ^1,3.