A novel case of Horner syndrome as the presenting sign of craniosynostosis.

Craniosynostosis, the premature fusion of cranial sutures, can lead to distortion of skull shape and neurological dysfunction. We present a novel case of Horner syndrome as the presenting sign of craniosynostosis associated with elevated intracranial pressure. A 10-year-old boy presenting for strabismus follow-up was noted to have new-onset anisocoria, greater in the dark, and mild right upper eyelid ptosis. Apraclonidine testing was concerning for Horner syndrome. Neuroimaging demonstrated previously undiagnosed sagittal craniosynostosis with tortuous optic nerves and large cerebrospinal fluid spaces around both optic nerves. The patient was referred to neurosurgery and underwent a lumbar puncture with an opening pressure of 44 cm H2O. He underwent surgical cranial expansion. By six months postoperatively, his anisocoria had resolved.

Approach to anisocoria in the emergency department.

Anisocoria describes asymmetric pupillary diameter, which can result from traumatic, pharmacologic, inflammatory, or ischemic effects on the eye. In many cases, anisocoria represents a normal physiologic variant. Morbidity associated with anisocoria is directly related to the inciting cause and can vary from benign to life-threatening. A thorough understanding by emergency physicians of normal ocular neuroanatomy, and of common causes of pathologic anisocoria, including medication-induced anisocoria, can facilitate appropriate resource utilization and timely subspecialty consultation, and can help prevent irreversible ocular injury and patient morbidity. We describe a patient who presented to the emergency department with acute onset of blurry vision with anisocoria.

Sudden anisocoria in a healing pediatric multitrauma patient.

ABSTRACT: This article describes a teenager who developed anisocoria with no obvious neurologic deficits or decline after a motor vehicle accident. The condition resolved over several hours before reappearing in the opposite eye 2 days later. Again no clinical neurologic deficits were noted and the condition resolved after several hours. The patient's asymptomatic anisocoria was finally determined to be secondary to aerosolized ipratropium treatments and an ill-fitting mask.

A well-appearing infant with a sudden anisocoria.

Case presentationA 10-month-old boy was admitted to the emergency department due to a sudden onset of left unilateral mydriasis (figure 1). His medical history was unremarkable. A minor head trauma 2 days before was reported, without alarming signs or symptoms. His mother was putting him to sleep, after coming back from work, when she noticed a different pupil size and promptly went to the ED with her husband. The parents denied any use of medications, including nebulised therapy or direct contact with plants. The child was well appearing and his vital signs were within the standard age limits. His extraocular motility was normal as well as the rest of his neurological and physical examination. Parents' behaviour was somehow remarkable. Even though the child was not suffering, the mother seemed very worried while the father was nervous and aggressive, repeatedly asking for a discharge.

Anisocoria secondary to antiperspirant wipes in a pediatric population: a case series.

Acute-onset anisocoria or mydriasis in children carries a broad differential diagnosis and includes both benign and life-threatening causes, ranging from systemic or topical drug use to peripheral or central nervous system disease. The topical anticholinergic agent glycopyrronium (approved by the Food and Drug Administration in June 2018) is used to treat hyperhidrosis. We present the first case series of pediatric patients presenting with acute mydriasis due to exposure to glycopyrronium wipes. Six cases (ages 12-16) were identified: 3 presented emergently and 3 to a primary care physician. Additional symptoms included blurry vision (4/6) and unilateral headache (1/6). In 3 cases, use of glycopyrronium wipes was not elicited initially, neuroimaging was obtained, and ophthalmology (2/3) or neurology (1/3) was consulted. One patient remained undiagnosed and presented emergently again 2 months later. In all patients, symptoms resolved without further treatment.

Anisocoria after scopolamine transdermal patch contamination: A case report.

RATIONALE: We report a case of anisocoria that occurred after contamination with a scopolamine transdermal patch, and introduce a diagnostic approach for anisocoria patients. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 35-year-old woman with no past ophthalmologic history presented to the ophthalmology department complaining of a dilated pupil in the right eye. Corrected visual acuities was 20/20 in both eyes, and the intraocular pressures were 20 and 18 mm Hg in the right and left eye, respectively. The anterior chambers in both eyes were unremarkable on slit-lamp examination. The pupil size was 5.0 mm in the right eye and 2.0 mm in the left eye, and the extraocular muscles of both eyes were intact. DIAGNOSIS: The patient neither did present with facial anhidrosis nor did she present with ptosis. Furthermore, as we did not observe dilatation lag in the smaller pupil, we applied 1% apraclonidine in the left eye in order to rule out Horner syndrome and did not observe dilatation of the pupil. We then applied 0.125% and 1% pilocarpine to exclude oculomotor nerve palsy; however, it could not be ruled out as constriction of pupil to 3.1 mm in the right eye was observed after applying 1% pilocarpine. Moreover, upon further investigation, we discovered that the patient had a scopolamine transdermal patch applied for 2 days prior to the clinic visit. INTERVENTIONS: Artificial tears were administered and the patient was observed and monitored. OUTCOMES: The pupil size in the right eye gradually decreased to 4.5 mm on the second day of observation and to 3.6 mm on the fourth day of observation. LESSONS: A detailed history of the use of medications such as scopolamine patches in patients with unilateral dilated pupils without vision loss is of utmost importance. We report the exclusion of important diseases using pilocarpine and apraclonidine hydrochloride. It was confirmed that improvement naturally occurs over time.

Anisocoria Correlates With Injury Severity and Outcomes After Blunt Traumatic Brain Injury.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Automated infrared pupillometry (AIP) has been shown to be helpful in the setting of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and stroke as an indicator of imminent irreversible brain injury. We postulated that the early detection of pupillary dysfunction after light stimulation using AIP may be useful in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of the Establishing Normative Data for Pupillometer Assessment in Neuroscience Intensive Care database, a prospectively populated multicenter registry of patients who had AIP measurements taken during their intensive care unit admission. The primary eligibility criterion was a diagnosis of blunt TBI. Ordinal logistic modeling was used to explore the association between anisocoria and daily Glasgow Coma Scale scores and discharge modified Rankin Scale scores from the intensive care unit and from the hospital. RESULTS: Among 118 subjects in the who met inclusion, there were 6187 pupillometer readings. Of these, anisocoria in ambient light was present in 12.8%, and that after light stimulation was present in 9.8%. Anisocoria after light stimulation was associated with worse injury severity (odds ratio [OR], 0.26 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.14-0.46]), lower discharge Glasgow Coma Scale scores (OR, 0.28 [95% CI, 0.17-0.45]), and lower discharge modified Rankin Scale scores (OR, 0.28 [95% CI, 0.17-0.47]). Anisocoria in ambient light showed a similar but weaker association. CONCLUSION: Anisocoria correlates with injury severity and with patient outcomes after blunt TBI. Anisocoria after light stimulation seems to be a stronger predictor than does anisocoria in ambient light. These findings represent continued efforts to understand pupillary changes in the setting of TBI.

Reversible Mydriasis of Sudden Onset: Think Before You Act.

BACKGROUND: The presence of abrupt anisocoria in clinical examination usually leads to the performance of urgent neuroimaging studies to exclude intracranial hemorrhage, although unilateral mydriasis might be the result of other benign etiologies. CASE REPORT: In this work, we report an illustrative case of a patient presenting with sudden-onset anisocoria while receiving ipratropium bromide nebulization in the emergency department to treat acute asthma. No other abnormalities were found on neurological examination and the computed tomography scan was normal. As a muscarinic antagonist, ipratropium bromide can produce mydriasis if accidentally instilled on one eye, thus leading to the suspicion of pharmacologic mydriasis. The pupils became isocoric after the discontinuation of the drug. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: A careful neurological examination and the history of treatment with mydriatic drugs might avoid unnecessary tests and radiation exposure.

Anisocoria in an intubated patient with COVID-19.

The effects of COVID-19 on the eye are still widely unknown. We describe a case of a patient who was intubated and proned in the intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19 and developed unilateral anisocoria. CT venogram excluded a cavernous sinus thrombosis. MRI of the head showed microhaemorrhages in the midbrain where the pupil reflex nuclei are located. After the patient was stepped down from ICU, intraocular pressure (IOP) was found to be raised in that eye. A diagnosis of subacute closed angle glaucoma was made. It is important for clinicians to rule out thrombotic causes in patients who develop acute anisocoria. It is also crucial to measure IOP in patients who develop ophthalmic pathology and have been proned for extended periods.

Neuro-Ophthalmology for Internists.

Neuro-ophthalmology is the study of the neurologic underpinnings of vision and includes a fascinating variety of disorders that span the broad spectrum of ophthalmic and neurologic disease. This subspecialty relies heavily on accurate neuroanatomic localization and examination. This article discusses neuro-ophthalmic complaints that frequently present to the internist, including acute vision loss, double vision, and unequal pupils. It focuses on pertinent clinical features of the most common causes of these chief complaints and additionally highlights salient points of history, diagnosis, examination, and management with special emphasis on the signs and symptoms that should prompt expedited evaluation.

Nebulized Ipratropium Bromide-induced Anisocoria: Why Is Anisocoria Observed?

Pharmacological anisocoria is a rare but benign condition. This paper presents an eleven-year-old patient with asthma who developed ipratropium bromide-associated anisocoria during nebulizer treatment. Hypotheses regarding the possible causes of anisocoria are discussed and precautions to be taken during treatment are presented. To prevent the development of anisocoria, it was found that it is important to use the appropriate mask during nebulizer treatment, to place the mask on the face properly, and, if possible, to administer drugs by closing the eyes. Further, it is recommended that patients undergo an ophthalmological examination before discharge and that they and their families be informed that the condition is temporary.

[Unusual anisocoria]. / Anisokorie mal anders.

A 53-year-old female patient presented with increased light sensitivity 3 weeks after oral intake of moxifloxacin tablets for an upper respiratory tract infection. The symptoms were anisocoria and the pupils did not react to light or accommodation. The examination of the anterior segment of the eye revealed extensive bilateral iris transillumination defects (ITD). We diagnosed a bilateral acute iris transillumination (BAIT) syndrome. The BAIT syndrome is a rare disorder associated with massive depigmentation of the iris and atrophy of the iris musculature. A risk factor for BAIT syndrome seems to be the oral intake of antibiotics, in particular moxifloxacin after an upper respiratory tract infection but cases of spontaneous occurrence have also been described. Middle-aged women are particularly affected. The exact cause of BAIT syndrome is so far unknown but a potential mechanism involves the concentration of the antibiotic in the vitreous body. Differential diagnoses include other causes for ITD, such as albinism, intraocular inflammation, pseudoexfoliation syndrome and pigment dispersion syndrome. To date there is no specific treatment for BAIT syndrome. Possible complications include increased light sensitivity and post-BAIT glaucoma. Knowledge of the rare BAIT syndrome can be useful in the clinical routine for the differential diagnostic classification of an anisocoria and can possibly contribute to avoidance of unnecessary diagnostic steps.

Unilateral mydriasis in a child with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt for obstructive hydrocephalus: a diagnostic dilemma.

There are several causes for sudden onset unilateral mydriasis, however impending transtentorial uncal herniation needs to be ruled out. This unique case highlights an uncommon adverse response to a common mode of treatment that leads to a diagnostic dilemma. A 3-year-old boy with a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt for an obstructive hydrocephalus presented with an acute respiratory distress. He developed unilateral mydriasis with absent light reflex during treatment with nebulisers. An urgent CT scan of the brain did not show any new intracranial abnormality. A case of pharmacological anisocoria was diagnosed that resolved completely within 24 hours of discontinuation of ipratropium bromide. Although ipratropium-induced anisocoria has been reported in children, but to our knowledge none in a child with VP shunt for hydrocephalus. This emphasises the urgency in evaluating unilateral mydriasis to rule out life-threatening conditions. Clinicians should remember that ipratropium administered through ill-fitting face masks could cause this completely reversible adverse effect.