To Be or Not To Be, IIH is the Question (.pdf)

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is mainly characterized by headaches and elevated intracranial pressure with normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) content. Moreover, brain and orbit magnetic resonance imaging studies image are invariably unremarkable. Typically, patients with IIH present clinical signs and symptoms that differ from conditions that mimic disc edema or other secondary cause of nerve swelling. However, in patients lacking definite clinical criteria this may be a difficult task; particularly cases were absence of true optic nerve edema is a differential diagnosis. Optic nerve head drusen (ONHD) can pose a diagnostic challenge in cases of suspected disc edema without symptoms. Nonetheless, despite similarities in optic nerve head appearance, etiology and visual outcome of these two conditions is quite different.