Radiculopathy as unusual presentation of idiopathic intracranial hypertension: A case report

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a disorder of young obese females and characterized by headache, papilledema with raised intracranial pressure in the absence of known pathological cause. However, ophthalmoplegia is common presentation of IIH, limb weakness is rare and may led to misdiagnosis and poor outcome.

We report female patient presented with acute onset of quadriparesis, headache and ophthalmoplegia, the fundus examination showed papilledema, the MRI brain showed no detectable abnormal finding.The intracranial pressure (ICP) was elevate. Nerve conduction study revealed sever radiculopathy. Our provisional diagnosis was fulminant idiopathic intracranial hypertension versus Gulliane Barre syndrome. The patient was submitted to CSF shunting which resulted in improvement of her symptoms. conclusion quadreparesis is a rare presentation of idiopathic intracranial hypertension, which may delay diagnosis and affect outcome. And urgent lumbo-peritoneal shunt was critical in saving patient vision and regaining ability to walk.