Spontaneous intracranial hypotension with bilateral subdural hemorrhage: Is conservative management adequate? (original) (raw)

A 35 year old Chinese man experienced severe generalized headache over a couple of days. The headache was throbbing in nature and maximum in the posterior parietal regions. In addition, he also complained of double vision, neck pain and dizziness; however, denied having nausea or vomiting. The headaches were aggravated when he assumed an upright posture (sitting or standing) and alleviated when lying down. He did not have preceding history of strenuous physical activities such as heavy weight lifting, trauma or a lumbar puncture procedure. Neurological examination revealed bilateral mild restriction of lateral gaze (likely due to VI nerve involvement), which resulted in binocular diplopia on extreme horizontal gaze. His brain computed tomography with contrast was normal.MRI brain showed prominence of cortical veins and significant distension of dural venous sinuses raising the possibility of pachymeningitis without venous sinus thrombosis [Figure 1 a,b]. In addition, cervical spine MRI revealed engorged anterior epidural venous plexus at cranio cervical junction and upper cervical spine, with mild effacement of the subarachnoid space, raising the possibility of spontaneous intracranial hypotension secondary to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak; however, no nerve root diverticula was noted. Repeated lumbar puncture (LP) failed to extract any CSF. Subsequently, LP under fluoroscopic guidance confirmed a low CSF pressure (5 cm of water). The routine CSF investigations for infective and inflammatory markers were all negative.