FOSTER KENNEDY SYNDROME

Course overview

FOSTER KENNEDY SYNDROME (FKS) IS CHARACTERIZED BY VISUAL LOSS DUE TO COMPRESSIVE OPTIC ATROPHY IN ONE EYE AND PAPILLEDEMA IN THE CONTRALATERAL EYE BROUGHT ON BY INCREASED INTRACRANIAL PRESSURE. THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THIS OPHTHALMOLOGIC CONDITION IS THE PRESENCE OF AN INTRACRANIAL SPACE-OCCUPYING LESION THAT COMPRESSES THE IPSILATERAL OPTIC NERVE, WHICH GIVES RISE TO OPTIC ATROPHY. THE LESION CAN ALSO CAUSE INCREASED INTRACRANIAL PRESSURE, THUS EXPLAINING THE PAPILLEDEMA IN THE FELLOW EYE FOUND IN FKS. MENINGIOMAS ARE THE MOST COMMON TYPE OF TUMORS FOUND IN THE BRAIN OF PATIENTS WITH FKS. THERE ARE TYPICALLY THREE TYPES OF FKS, BASED ON WHETHER OR NOT THE ATROPHY AND PAPILLEDEMA ARE UNILATERAL OR BILATERAL. TYPE 1 IS THE MOST FREQUENT PRESENTING FORM WITH OPTIC ATROPHY IN THE IPSILATERAL EYE AND PAPILLEDEMA IN THE CONTRALATERAL EYE. PSEUDO-FKS HAS A SIMILAR CLINICAL PRESENTATION OF FKS; HOWEVER, THERE IS NO UNDERLYING COMPRESSIVE PATHOLOGY IN PSEUDO-FKS. IN SOME INDIVIDUALS, THE ONSET OF THESE ACUTE OPHTHALMOLOGIC SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS CAN ASSIST IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF AN UNDERLYING SEVERE NEUROLOGICAL DISEASE; THUS, PROPER DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS AND THOROUGH EXAMINATION AND TESTING ARE ESSENTIAL. THIS ACTIVITY DESCRIBES THE EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH FOSTER KENNEDY SYNDROME AND POINTS TO THE ROLE OF THE INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM IN MANAGING PATIENTS WITH THIS CONDITION.