An Estimation of the Risk of Pseudotumor Cerebri among Users of the Levonorgestrel Intrauterine Device

ABSTRACT

Because of a previous association of pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) with levonorgestrel, we wished to evaluate the use of levonorgestrel-eluting intrauterine devices (“levonorgestrel intrauterine systems”, LNG-IUS) in our University of Utah and Rigshospitalet PTC patients. In our retrospective series, PTC prevalence was approximately 0.18% and 0.15% in the LNG-IUS population versus 0.02% and 0.04% in the non-LNG-IUS population (Utah and Rigshospitalet, respectively), with no significant differences in PTC signs and symptoms among the two groups. Our investigation suggests that women with an LNG-IUS may have increased risk of developing PTC but does not suggest an LNG-IUS can cause PTC.

KEYWORDS:

• Contraception
• idiopathic intracranial hypertension
• intrauterine system
• levonorgestrel
• pseudotumor cerebri

Acknowledgements

The Authors thank Ms. Susan Schulman, Links to Clinical Research, for professional editing of the final manuscript.

Declaration of interest

Jessica Sanders receives research funding for other projects from Bayer HealthCare, Whippany, New Jersey, USA, and Teva Women’s Health Inc., Frazer, Pennsylvania, USA.

The other authors report no relevant conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding

This study was supported in part by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York, USA, to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York, USA, to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.