The History of Pseudotumor Cerebri Syndrome among “Courses” and “Recourses”

Abstract

The terms “pseudotumor cerebri” and “benign intracranial hypertension,” respectively, introduced by Nonne in 1904 and Foley in 1955, were originally used to describe patients with raised intracranial pressure in whom no tumor was found and whose course was considered to be relatively benign. In the modern era of medicine, the natural history of this condition has proved to be not always benign, as some patients with “benign intracranial hypertension” developed permanent blindness. Therefore, Buchheit in 1969 challenged the terms “benign” and “pseudotumor” and the denomination was then changed to “idiopathic intracranial hypertension.” The recently updated diagnostic criteria for this syndrome reintroduced the original terminology and proposed to define the condition as “pseudotumor cerebri syndrome.” The aim of this umbrella term is to encompass all the potential etiologies, primary and secondary, of increased intracranial pressure not associated with intracranial mass and/or anomalies of the brain parenchyma. In this article, we briefly review the history of pseudotumor cerebri syndrome.