Ophthalmological symptoms in children with intracranial cysts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to perform an ophthalmological assessment in children with intracranial cysts and to assess the correlation between the occurrence of cysts and visual disorders. The documentation of 46 children with intracranial cysts, monitored by the Children’s Outpatient Ophthalmology Clinic, Poznan, Poland was analysed. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the alignment of the eyes, visual evoked potentials (VEP), comprehensive eye examination were performed in all patients. Additional ophthalmological tests were conducted to eliminate other causes of decreased visual acuity.Included in the final analysis were 26 children (52 eyes). The average age at the last visit was 10.3 years. Sixteen children (61.5%) had arachnoid cysts located in the posterior cranial fossa, 3 children (11.5%) in the middle cranial fossa, while 7 children (27%) had a pineal cyst. Decreased BCVA was found in 13 children, abnormal VEP in 13, strabismus in 14 patients (53.9%), nystagmus in 5 patients (19.2%), and double vision in 2 patients (7.7%). Numerous visual disorders in children with intracranial cysts suggest the necessity to carry out enhanced ophthalmological diagnostics in these patients. In the examined patient group, visual disorders occurred mostly in the case of arachnoid cysts of the posterior fossa.

Impaired visual acuity as an only symptom of shunt malfunction, long time after initial cyst-peritoneal shunting for arachnoid cyst: A case report

“…It is universally accepted that clinicians should exercise caution when ascribing any nonspecific symptoms such as headaches, behavioral disturbances, or epilepsy to the presence of an AC. [ 6 ] In the cases of CP shunt-related complications, many cases appear to present with symptoms of headaches and vomiting,[ 2 , 11 , 14 ] and these symptoms were ordinary complicated in the patient who showed the visual impairment. It is not clear why there were no symptoms of headache or vomiting in this case, but it should be noted that shunt dependency syndrome might only present visual impairment.…”