Persistent disturbances of cognitive functions in patients with pseudotumor cerebri

In a series of 20 consecutive patients with pseudotumor cerebri, five patients had a protracted course of the disease with complaints of persistent disturbances in learning and memory functions. Neuropsychological examination disclosed a light general intellectual impairment with most marked disturbances in verbal tests. After intensive medical treatment or ventriculo-atrial shunt operation, psychological re-examination showed improvement in the test results in accordance with the improvement of the patients' occupational and social situation. Cognitive dysfunction can be the result of a prolonged course of benign intracranial hypertension, and the term "benign" may be misleading in these cases. However, the intellectual impairment, even when long-standing, seems to be reversible in most patients after medical or surgical measures to lower the intracranial pressure.