lumbar puncture

Diagnostic Criteria For Pseudotumor Cerebri (Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension)

Pseudotumor cerebri syndrome (PTC, also referred to as idiopathic intracranial hypertension [IIH]) is classically taught as presenting in young, overweight women of childbearing age, with a history of headaches and findings of bilateral optic nerve swelling, associated with an elevated intracranial pressure.  However, as with every "textbook" definition of a disease, there are atypical cases (children, men, thin people, older people), and so I am often confronted with some interesting diagnostic challenges when I am referred a patient that does not fit the typical picture of PTC who has bilateral optic nerve swelling.