Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and Optic Nerve Damage

Abstract

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a kind of familiar disease for neurological physicians, a syndrome which takes headaches, optical disk edema, and some other signs and symptoms related to increased intracranial pressure as the main clinical manifestations, while imaging examination shows no intracranial space-occupying lesions, vascular lesions, hydrocephalus, or other related intracranial lesions, with normal cerebrospinal fluid composition. In the past, patients with IIH could only be related to ophthalmology for evaluation of optic nerve morphology and status of visual field. However, by integrating lamina cribrosa district into the whole optic nerve pathways by ophthalmologists, people gradually realize that the cerebrospinal fluid circulation around the optic nerve is also related to the eye disease, such as glaucoma. It may provide a good control model for the study of glaucoma. We hope that this chapter, on the one hand, can make eye doctor know more about IIH, including the historical evolution, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestation, standard diagnosis, and treatment of this disease; on the other hand, we hope to inspire the reader to recognize the eye diseases from the perspective of craniocerebral diseases.