Pseudotumor Cerebri Associated with Initiation of Levothyroxine Therapy for Juvenile Hypothyroidism

Pseudotumor CEREBRI (benign intracranial hypertension), a syndrome characterized by increased intracranial pressure without focal neurologic dysfunction, occurs in association with a variety of endocrine and metabolic disorders. Thyroid disorders have not been described in association with pseudotumor cerebri except in two reports of hyperthyroidism^1,2 and two reports on patients receiving thyroxine therapy for hypothyroidism.^3,4 In fact, when thyroxine has been used in appropriate doses as replacement therapy for hypothyroidism, it has been associated with very few side effects. We now describe two children in whom pseudotumor cerebri developed shortly after the initiation of thyroid therapy for hypothyroidism due to autoimmune.