A moderately obese 32-year-old female with systemic hypertension self-referred with the following symptoms:

  • Bad headaches for the last week, described as pain in the back of her head and neck, with pressure localised around the left eye when she stood up.
  • Horizontal diplopia at all distances for the last 24 hours.
  • Loss of peripheral vision.
  • Periods of tunnel vision.
  • Her GP had prescribed anti-migraine medication.
  • Pupil function was normal, ocular-motility indicated an underacting left lateral rectus with a 20 prism dioptre left esotropia, with bilateral enlarged blind spots and an inferonasal arcuate visual field defect in each eye and raised optic nerve heads.

The patient had vague visual complaints, headaches, a left 6th cranial nerve palsy, bilateral visual field defects and papilloedema. Her signs and symptoms were due to pseudotumour cerebri. She was referred as an emergency case to a neurologist and was prescribed medication to reduce the production of cerebral spinal fluid which reduced her intracranial pressure. The subjective symptoms, 6th nerve palsy and papilloedema resolved within five weeks of treatment.

Pseudotumour cerebri, sometimes referred to as idiopathic intracranial hypertension, is a disorder highlighted by an elevated intracranial pressure without an accompanying space-occupying lesion or evidence of ventriculomegaly-enlargement of the ventricles of the brain.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

If you like EyeTools Questions of the Day…

Children’s Eye Examinations
How to Run a Successful Low Vision Clinic
How to Run a Successful Optometry Practice

EyeTools.Education

 

NEW WEBINARS ADDED REGULARLY – this is for:
– Optometry students
– Pre-registration and novice optometrists
– Optometrists returning to work
– Junior eye doctors
– Dispensing opticians and orthoptists preparing for refraction exams
– Contact lens opticians, clinical assistants and eyecare educators

Improve your optometry skills with introductory & specialist instruction videos, topical live & recorded expert webinars, presentations and book reviews.

Start with the first section, ‘Pre-refraction procedures’ free, then choose a monthly or yearly subscription. To see English captions, click the CC button on any video.