title: Papilledema and abducens nerve palsy following ethylene glycol ingestion.
abstract: A 34-year-old male with a long-standing history of polysubstance abuse and depression was admitted for acute renal failure and hemodialysis secondary to ethylene glycol ingestion that occurred two days prior. The patient was admitted with documented ethylene glycol levels of 41.2 mg/dl, which fell to 25.0 mg/dl after 8 hours and to 6 mg/dl after 12 hours. One week later the patient presented to the outpatient eye clinic complaining of headaches and diplopia. On exam, vision in both eyes was 20/20. No afferent papillary defect was present. The patient had a left abducens palsy. The remainder of the anterior segment exam was normal. On dilated fundus exam the patient was found to have 3+ disc edema with hemorrhages in both eyes. A lumbar puncture revealed elevated intracranial pressure. In our opinion, the patient developed a left abducens nerve palsy and bilateral disc edema secondary to a transient rise in intracranial pressure after ingestion of ethylene glycol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois 60153, USA.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Delany
authors.forename: Walter M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Jay
mesh_terms: D020434:Abducens Nerve Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000328:Adult; D019855:Ethylene Glycol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D019586:Intracranial Hypertension / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000187:drug effects*; D010211:Papilledema / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D019855:Ethylene Glycol