Idiopathic intracranial hypertension: a retrospective clinical study

Background: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension is a disorder characterized by an increased intracranial pressure, without deformity and obstruction of the ventricular system. There is a predilection of occurrence in obese women of childbearing age. The pathogenesis of idiopathic intracranial hypertension is likely related to abnormalities in the balance between production and drainage of cerebrospinal fluid. Diagnosis is made by excluding the known causes of elevated intracranial pressure. Objective: To evaluate the features, possible causes, treatment, and incidence of idiopathic intracranial hypertension as seen in patients attending our Department of Neurology. Methods: We retrospectively analysed a group of patients diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension in our Department of Neurology during a twenty-year period (1989 to 2008). Results: In six patients we confirmed the diagnosis of idiopathic intracranial hypertension during this period. Five of them were females and one was male, the average age of the patients was 32.30 years (22 to 52). The calculated incidence of idiopathic intracranial hypertension in our group was 0.15 per 100,000 persons. Out of these six persons there were four cases diagnosed in the last five years, changing the calculated incidence to 0.4 per 100,000 persons in this period. The average body mass index in our patients was 26.33 kg/m(2) (20.1 to 31.38). Conclusion: We suppose that the increased incidence of idiopathic intracranial hypertension in our patients in the last five years has been associated with an advance in diagnostics. With literary data, half of our patients were obese or overweighted, but all of them underwent also hormonal treatment, some had iron deficiency and one of them was pregnant (Tab. 3, Fig. 1, Ref. 17). Full Text in free PDF www.bmj.sk.