[A case of chronic hypertrophic cranial pachymeningitis causing cranial polyneuropathy and unilateral central retinal...

We presented a 70-year-old woman who developed unilateral visual loss due to central retinal vein occlusion caused by chronic hypertrophic cranial pachymeningitis. She had developed right blindness with optic atrophy due to chronic intracranial pachymeningitis one year before admission. In June 1999, she noticed visual loss of the left eye. On admission, neurological examination revealed left visual loss and sensory impairment in the first branch area of bilateral trigeminal nerves. Ophthalmological examination revealed central retinal vein occlusion of the left eye. Brain MRI showed dural thickening with gadolinium enhancement of the cavernous sinus near the left optic nerve and dilatation of the left supraorbital vein. There was no compression of the left optic nerve. We suggest that central retinal vein occlusion may be caused by compression of the supraorbital vein by dural thickening. This is the first case report of central retinal vein occlusion associated with chronic hypertrophic cranial pachymeningitis.