Acquired Brown's syndrome of inflammatory origin. Response to locally injected steroids
J. S. Hermann
In a recent large series of tendon sheath syndrome, Brown reported only
five cases of the pure acquired type that were not intermittent and in
which the patients did not undergo spontaneous recovery. The origin of
acquired Brown's syndrome is varied and includes trauma of the orbit,
direct trochlear trauma, orbital or muscle surgery, frontal sinusitis or
sinus surgery, and inflammation of the superior oblique tendon and sheath,
namely a stenosing tenosynovitis. The differential diagnosis and possible
causes of the acquired Brown's syndrome were reviewed, and two cases of
presumptive tenosynovitis of the superior oblique tendon and sheath are
presented in detail. In both cases, the condition of each patient was
notably improved by a series of direct injections of methylprednisolone
acetate into the trochlear region. This form of treatment for acquired
Brown's syndrome of inflammatory origin has never, to my knowledge, been
reported in the literature.
