Papilloedema secondary to otitic hydrocephalus
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Correspondence to: Douglas R Fredrick MD, 400 Parnassus Avenue, A-750, San Francisco, CA 94143-0344, USA; dfred{at}itsa.ucsf.edu
- Accepted 3 October 2005
- otitic hydrocephalus
- papilloedema
- mastoiditis
- intracranial sinus thrombosis
- intracranial hypertension
Otitic hydrocephalus was described by Sir Charles P Symonds upon his observation of intracranial hypertension occurring after otitis media with no clinical or serological evidence of meningeal inflammation.1 In 1936, Ersner and Meyers proposed its pathophysiology to be the obliteration of the lateral cerebral sinus.2 The introduction of antibiotics in the modern era has made the disease and its sequelae a rare phenomenon.3 A case of otitic hydrocephalus in a child, resulting in papilloedema with visual loss, is described.
Case report
A 5 year old female presented with pansinusitis, bilateral mastoiditis, and thrombosis of the right lateral sinus demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and venography (fig 1A). Medical history was insignificant. Cerebral …
