Consolidation of federally-filed Mirena IUD brain injury lawsuits to establish a new federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) are being opposed by Bayer.

The plaintiffs, who filed the motion with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, allege that levonorgestrel, an active ingredient in the Mirena IUD, caused them to suffer idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), which is also commonly known as pseudotumor cerebri (PTC). The plaintiffs want the cases consolidated in a federal court in Tennessee.

Bayer maintains there are too few pseudotumor cerebri lawsuits pending in federal courts to warrant the creation of a multidistrict litigation. The company points out that only nine have been filed so far that allege the levonorgestrel released by the Mirena IUD can result in non-stroke neurological complications, including pseudotumor cerebri.

What is Pseudotumor Cerebri?

Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) is a medical condition that causes neurological issues that can mimic the effects of a brain tumor. Birth control implants like Mirena have been linked to an increased risk of PTC, which causes severe headaches, migraines, vision loss, and blindness.

PTC is also known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), or benign intracranial hypertension. Pseudotumor cerebri, which literally means “false brain tumor,” is characterized by high intracranial pressure caused by the accumulation or poor absorption of cerebrospinal fluid. The disorder is mostly common reported in women between the ages of 20 and 50.

Pseudotumor cerebri symptoms may include:

• Frequent headaches or migraines that may originate behind your eyes and worsen with eye movement
• Ringing in the ears that pulses in time with your heartbeat, creating a “whooshing” sound (pulsatile tinnitus)
• Feeling dizzy or nauseated
• Vomiting
• Blurred vision, double vision, blind spots
• Vision loss affecting one or both eyes
• Difficulty seeing to the side
• Seeing light flashes (photopsia)
• Neck stiffness
• Neck, shoulder or back pain
• Problems walking
• Forgetfulness
• Depression

One of the challenges in diagnosing pseudotumor cerebri is that its symptoms closely resemble those of a brain tumor. Thus, PTC is sometimes misdiagnosed. This further complicates the process of making a diagnosis and means PTC is an easy condition for medical professionals to miss.

Mirena IUD Lawsuits

There are 800 Mirena injury lawsuits in the federal court system, which are consolidated as part of an existing multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Southern District of New York (In re: Mirena IUD Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2434).

However, that proceeding is limited to cases involving allegations that the Mirena IUDs perforated the uterus and migrated out of position. Therefore, according to the nine plaintiffs, a second MDL is needed, and would be limited to cases involving plaintiffs who allegedly suffered neurological conditions such as pseudotumor cerebri.