The expanding spectrum of idiopathic intracranial hypertension

Once considered a rare and often difficult diagnosis in the era predating routine MRI, idiopathic intracranial hypertension has become an everyday concern in ophthalmology and neurology clinics where, especially in the latter, essentially every young overweight woman with headaches is initially pres...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Eye (London) 2023-08, Vol.37 (12), p.2361-2364
Main Authors: Biousse, Valérie, Newman, Nancy J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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692/699/3161
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Body weight
Diagnosis
Female
Humans
Hypertension
Laboratory Medicine
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Obesity
Obesity - complications
Ophthalmology
Optic nerve
Overweight
Papilledema - diagnosis
Papilledema - etiology
Pharmaceutical Sciences/Technology
Pseudotumor Cerebri - complications
Review
Review Article
Surgery
Surgical Oncology
Swelling
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Summary:Once considered a rare and often difficult diagnosis in the era predating routine MRI, idiopathic intracranial hypertension has become an everyday concern in ophthalmology and neurology clinics where, especially in the latter, essentially every young overweight woman with headaches is initially presumed to have IIH. Has the diagnosis of IIH become too easy, and are we over-diagnosing IIH in this period of an accelerating obesity crisis? Or are we actually missing cases of IIH because they do not fit the classic clinical profile? We think it is both: at the same time IIH is being diagnosed in excess in obese women without papilledema, often resulting in unnecessary procedures, inappropriate treatment and even iatrogenic complications, the spectrum of this disorder is expanding to include a broad array of clinical presentations that involve multiple specialists beyond just the ophthalmologist and neurologist.
ISSN:0950-222X
1476-5454
1476-5454
DOI:10.1038/s41433-022-02361-3