Title: The Headache Formerly Known as Pseudotumor Cerebri (Submitted by Ryan Spangler)<br/>Author: WanTsu Wendy Chang<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/1322/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p>
<span style="font-size:14px;">Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a vision-threatening illness with significant morbidity and needs to be considered as a possible headache diagnosis in the ED. Most often, this occurs in women of childbearing age with a BMI >30, but atypical varieties exist.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><u>Symptoms</u>: Headache (90%), visual disturbance, pulsatile tinnitus, horizotal diplopia.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><u>Signs</u>: Papilledema, 6th cranial nerve (abducens) palsy.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><u>Evaluation</u>: Neuroimaging including CTV or MRV to identify alternate cause including cerebral venous outflow obstruction, lumbar puncture with opening pressure >30 cmH<sub>2</sub>O (25-30 cmH<sub>2</sub>O is gray zone), blood work per clinical presentation, CSF analysis.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><u>Treatment</u>: No clear consensus, but typically acetazolamide. Severe or refractory symptoms may require surgical intervention such as optic nerve sheath fenestration, VP shunt, venous sinus stenting.</span></p>
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<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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Hoffmann J, Mollan SP, Paemeleire K, <em>et al</em>. European Headache Federation guideline on idiopathic intracranial hypertension. <em>J Headache Pain</em>. 2018;19(1):93.</p>
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