Orbital pseudotumor with intra-cranial extension

Intracranial extension of orbital inflammatory pseudotumor: a case report and literature review

BACKGROUND

Orbital inflammatory pseudotumor is a rare inflammatory condition of unknown cause that may extend intracranially, usually as a dural-based infiltrate. Here we report the first case of orbital pseudotumor presenting with intra-axial Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) changes.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 57-year-old white female, with a 3-month history of headache and right palpebral edema, presented with marked right temporal lobe edema with ominous MRI appearance, and ipsilateral alterations of orbital and periorbital structures. Following steroid therapy, both intracranial and orbital involvement dramatically improved.

CONCLUSION

Orbital inflammatory pseudotumor with chronic inflammation may infrequently present with intracranial involvement, mimicking more aggressive diseases, even showing intra-axial enhancement after i.v. contrast administration in brain MRI. Awareness of this possibility may help neurologists to choose the appropriate therapeutic approach.

MR imaging of orbital inflammatory pseudotumors with extraorbital extension

Objective

To demonstrate a variety of MR imaging findings of orbital inflammatory pseudotumors with extraorbital extension.

Materials and Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the MR features of five patients, who were diagnosed clinically and radiologically as having an orbital inflammatory pseudotumor with extraorbital extension.

Results

The types of orbital pseudotumors were a mass in the orbital apex (n = 3), diffuse form (n = 2), and myositis (n = 1). The extraorbital extension of the orbital pseudotumor passed through the superior orbital fissure in all cases, through the inferior orbital fissure in two cases, and through the optic canal in one case. The orbital lesions extended into the following areas: the cavernous sinus (n = 4), the middle cranial fossa (n = 4), Meckel's cave (n = 2), the petrous apex (n = 2), the clivus (n = 2), the pterygopalatine fossa and infratemporal fossa (n = 2), the foramen rotundum (n = 1), the paranasal sinus (n = 1), and the infraorbital foramen (n = 1). On MR imaging, the lesions appeared as an isosignal intensity with gray matter on the T1-weighted images, as a low signal intensity on the T2-weighted images and showed a marked enhancement on the post-gadolinium-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (post-Gd-DTPA) T1-sequences. The symptoms of all of the patients improved when they were given high doses of steroids. Three of the five patients experienced a recurrence.

Conclusion

MR imaging is useful for demonstrating the presence of a variety of extraorbital extensions of orbital inflammatory pseudotumors.