Hypertrophic pachymeningitis: Current criteria for diagnosis and differentiation (Clinical case and review of literature)

Abstract

The paper describes a 44-year-old male patient with an about 6-year history of hypertrophic pachymeningitis. The major clinical symptoms were characterized by headache, exophthalmos, and blindness in one eye. The data for differential diagnosis of the disease are given. The current literature on the clinical manifestations of hypertrophic pachymeningitis, its differential diagnosis, and the results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is reviewed. Diagnostic difficulties at the stage of a clinical observation are due to the nonspecificity of neurological manifestations and the need for a comprehensive examination to detect a somatic disease. MRI can diagnose the disease-specific phenomenon of damage to the meninges, which calls for further careful differentiation. Clinicians must be familiar with alternative differential diagnosis, as a rapid specific therapeutic approach will help avoid long-term or irreversible neurological complications.

Keywords

• hypertrophic pachymeningitis
• magnetic resonance imaging
• wegener’s granulomatosis
• igg4-associateddiseases