My main research area in neuro-ophthalmology is idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) syndrome. In recent years, I have concentrated on advancing my research of this syndrome and have published papers in this field. IIH is a syndrome of increased intracranial pressure without an intracranial mass. When papilledema is present, neuroimaging is obtained before a lumbar puncture.

This research is unique due to the fact that there are only a small number of patients and not enough knowledge regarding the risk factors, follow-up, and preferred methods to treat people with this syndrome. This is the reason that I built a center to diagnose, treat, and research patients who suffer from IIH. I hope to promote the basis for advancement in diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.

Although in IIH the brain scan should be normal, we can find a few soft signs of increased intracranial pressure, like empty sella, reverse optic nerve head, and dilation of optic nerve sheath. In this work, we examined the optic nerve diameter, for the purpose of finding another soft sign for increased intracranial pressure in children. These results help us in routine clinical practice; for every patient suspected to have increased intracranial hypertension from different causes, we look at the diameter of the optic nerve. In the future we plan to expand this research to adult IIH populations, in addition to looking for other neuroimaging signs that can be used as tools for the diagnosis and follow-up of these patients.

 

Read this article at AJNR.org . . .