Magnetic resonance images of Tolosa-Hunt syndrome before and after steroid therapy

Tolosa-Hunt syndrome (THS) is characterized by painful ophthalmoplegia due to idiopathic granulomatous inflammation of the cavernous sinus. Steroid therapy dramatically reverses the clinical signs and symptoms of THS. We report a typical case of THS, in which MRI showed a mass lesion in the right cavernous sinus with intermediate signal intensity on T1-weighted images, hypointensity on T2-weighted images and positive gadolinium enhancement. This 24-year-old man had three episodes of painful ophthalmoplegia in a period of 9 months. The side of the involved cavernous sinus was different in the first and the second episodes of THS. The symptoms lasted for 1 month and the patient recovered spontaneously from these two episodes. In the third episode, the right pupil was also involved and the light reflex was lost. After steroid therapy, the ocular symptoms improved rapidly within 48 hours and the mass lesion in the right cavernous sinus on MRI was markedly diminished by the 7th day of treatment.