Pseudoarachnoiditis in Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension

Abstract

Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is an important cause of new daily persistent headaches in young and middle-aged individuals. The diagnosis is made based on low cerebrospinal fluid pressure with characteristic findings upon brain and spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We present the case of a 15-year-old boy with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Although his brain MRI was normal, his lumbar spinal MRI showed clustering of the nerve roots characteristic of arachnoiditis. Radionuclide cisternography revealed an epidural leak, which was treated with an epidural blood patch. The patient reached a near-full recovery within 24 h, and the lumbar spinal MRI findings mimicking arachnoiditis disappeared.

Keywords

• Spontaneous intracranial hypotension
• pseudoarachnoiditis
• spinal MRI