Walsh & Hoyt: Papilledema: Course

The rapidity of developing papilledema depends to a large extent on the etiology and degree of the increased ICP. Experimental models using inflatable balloons in the subarachnoid space of monkeys showed papilledema in 30% of the animals in 24 hours, in 50% after 2 days, and in 90% after 5 days when papilledema was assessed using direct ophthalmoscopy, stereoscopic photography, and fluorescein angiography. Most of the animals developed papilledema from the surgery even prior to the balloon being inflated and papilledema took 1 to 3 weeks to redevelop after the postoperative edema resolved and the balloon was inflated.