IDIOPATHIC INTRACRANIAL HYPERTENSION IN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN SAUDI ARABIA, RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Background: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is one of headache syndromes that is female predominate and associated with increase intracranial pressure without obvious etiology, it has variable clinical presentation, and it needs high index of suspicion to reach diagnosis even with presence of well-established diagnostic criteria. Visual symptoms, which range from visual obscuration to blindness significantly,affect the outcome of this disease. Unfortunately, there is limited literature about IHH in Middle East and in Saudi Arabia in particular. In this retrospective study, we try to shed the light on pseudo-tumor cerebri in university hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Methodology: This is a retrospective study conducted among 105 patients with IIH admitted to the university hospital in Saudi Arabia. Data on age, gender, as well as about symptoms, obesity, medication and surgeries, and CT/MRI results was collected.

Results: The mean age of patients was 37.72 years old with standard deviation of 13.48 where 96.2 % of patients were females. Headache is the more common symptom presented by 96.2 % of patients followed with blurred vision and papilledema (85.7 %) and over weight (77.1 %). Considering medications taken by patients because of IIH, we found that main medications was Diamox which prescribed to 96.2 % with mean dose of 942.3 mg. Regarding surgical intervention, 4.8 % had a surgery of VP-shunt and 1.9 % had optic nerve fenestration

Conclusion: We concluded that IIH incidence is higher among young women with higher body weight and associated with the use of hormonal contraceptives. The main symptoms of IIH are headache with papilledema and visual disturbances. Acetazolamide is the most common prescribed medication for IIH patients while 6.6 % of patients need surgical procedures.