Title: Steroid Abuse Induced Benign Intracranial Hypertension in an Infant

Authors: Dr Krishna Chaitanya, Dr Keerthi Kundana, Dr Avani Duggirala

 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v12i05.11

Abstract

Introduction

Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension is a well known phenomenon in both pediatric population and also adults. Steroid induced Intracranial Hypertension is also well documented in adults but sparsely reported in children and no such literature reported in Infants from India.

We would like to present our case of steroid induced intracranial hypertension in a 6 months old male child who was on prednisone drops for past 3 months misused by parents as prescribed by some quack as relief medication for common cold. Our intention is to highlight the level of abuse of steroids over the counter practice and to show the level of detrimental side effects it causes with evidence inorder to report from Indian literature.

Case Report

A 6 months old male child was brought by parents with complaints of poor feeding, excessive cry and irritability. On examination child (fig 1) had bulging anterior fontanelle, BP was 120/80 mmHg, > 99th centile for the age. Child is obese and weight was 10 kg, Z> 2SD on WHO chart. Child was suspected to be having cushingoid features. On further probing mother gave a history of usage of drops for common cold as suggested by a quack continuously for past 3 months which was found to be Prednisolone drops

References

  1. Pai SG, Sharma T, Gupta R. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension: Clinical profile and outcome. J Clin Ophthalmol Res 2016;4:25-9.
  2. Ramana Reddy AM, Prashanth LK, Sharat Kumar GG, Chandana G, Jadav R. Over-the-counter self-medication leading to intracranial hypertension in a young lady. J Neurosci Rural Pract 2014;5:384-6.
  3. Friedman DI, Liu GT, Digre KB. Revised diagnostic criteria for the pseudotumor cerebri syndrome in adults and children. Neurology 2013;81:1159-65.
  4. Roy AG, Vinayan KP, Kumar A. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension in pediatric population: Case series from India. Neurol India 2013;61:488-90

Corresponding Author

Dr Krishna Chaitanya

Ankura Hospital for women and children, Lb nagar, Hyderabad