Sumatriptan for headache caused by head and neck cancer

The use of sumatriptan for the treatment of migraine and cluster headache is well established. Sumatriptan has also been reported to be effective for the treatment of postdural puncture headache, postictal headache, and headache related to intravenous immunoglobulin infusion. We report two patients with headache caused by locally invasive head and neck cancer relieved by oral sumatriptan.     

Sumatriptan in patients with postdural puncture headache

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of sumatriptan in the management of patients presenting for an epidural blood patch for the management of postdural puncture headache. BACKGROUND: Postdural puncture headache can be quite severe, requiring invasive therapy (ie, epidural blood patch). Sumatriptan has been used successfully in patients with postdural puncture headache, however, its use has not been investigated in a controlled fashion. METHODS: Ten patients with postdural puncture headache presenting for an epidural blood patch were given either saline or sumatriptan subcutaneously. The severity of the headache was evaluated at baseline and 1 hour following injection. If the headache remained severe, an epidural blood patch was performed. RESULTS: Only one patient in each group received relief from the injection. CONCLUSIONS: We do not recommend sumatriptan in patients who have exhausted conservative management of postdural puncture headache.     

Late postpartum eclampsia coincident with postdural puncture headache: a case report

Preeclampsia developed in this patient 4 days' postpartum. Visual changes, headache, and elevated blood pressures were present on arrival to the emergency department. Coincident with the preeclampsia was a postdural puncture headache complicating the diagnosis of late postpartum preeclampsia. Pregnancy-induced hypertension laboratory values were normal, and relief of the postdural headache and visual disturbances was obtained after placement of an epidural blood patch. Blood pressures continued to increase, however, and late postpartum eclampsia developed. We conclude that symptoms of a postdural puncture headache can mimic those of postpartum preeclampsia. Early recognition and treatment of postpartum preeclampsia may decrease patient mortality and morbidity by preventing late postpartum eclampsia.     

Postdural puncture headache: diagnosis,prevention and therapy

Lumbar puncture (LP) is a routine technique performed for a variety of procedures, e.g. diagnosis, administration of drugs, myelography and spinal anaesthesia. Postdural puncture headache is a common complication (30-40% in diagnostic LP). Prevention can be accomplished by using small-gauge needles (< or = 25 G) or pencil-point needles (22 G). Therapy should be carried out in a stepwise approach. The first step is bedrest, use of analgetics, i.v. fluids and an adequate guidance of the patient. The second step comprises special drug therapy. Several methods of pharmacologic management have been presented in the literature, but most of these are case reports. There is a lack of large double-blind placebo-controlled studies. Theophylline, caffeine, ACTH and sumatriptan are potentially promising agents for the treatment of postdural puncture headache. The efficacy of theophylline has been proven in a double-blind and placebo-controlled study. There are a few studies and case reports reporting that caffeine p.o. and i.v. is effective in the treatment of postdural puncture headache, but recurrence of headache after caffeine therapy is frequent. ACTH acts on a complex hormonal system. The treatment with sumatriptan has been reported in only a few case reports. The third step, and one of the most effective treatments of postdural puncture headache, is the epidural blood patch. The success rate ranges between 80 and 97%.     

Short migraine attacks of less than 2 h duration in children and adolescents

We studied the duration of migraine attacks among children and adolescents who reported headache attacks lasting <2 h. Among the 720 children who attended our specialist headache clinic, over a period of 6 years, 231 children had migraine with or without aura fulfilling the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria for the diagnosis of migraine. A further 15 children reported headache attacks typical of migraine, but of duration <2 h. They were asked to fill prospective headache diaries in order to determine with accuracy the duration of their headache attacks. Ten (67%) of these children provided prospective fully analysable headache diaries and recorded a total of 120 headache attacks, 66 attacks (55%) lasting for <1 h each, 30 attacks (25%) lasting between 1 and 2 h, and 24 attacks (20%) lasting >2 h. Patient-based analysis of the headache diaries showed that only three children consistently had headache attacks lasting <1 h. Seven children had some of their headache attacks lasting for at least 1 h and four had some of their headache attacks lasting at least 2 h. This study shows that headache attacks in children with migraine can be variable, and brief attacks are rare. A combination of short (<1 h) and long (>2 h) attacks of headache can coexist in the same patient. The IHS diagnostic criteria of 1988 for migraine in children should therefore acknowledge such variation and allow reduction of the duration of migraine attacks to 1 h.     

A double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study of sublingual feverfew and ginger (LipiGesic™ M) in the treatment of migraine

(Headache 2011;51:1078‐1086) Background.— Therapeutic needs of migraineurs vary considerably from patient to patient and even attack to attack. Some attacks require high‐end therapy, while other attacks have treatment needs that are less immediate. While triptans are considered the “gold standard” of migraine therapy, they do have limitations and many patients are seeking other therapeutic alternatives. In 2005, an open‐label study of feverfew/ginger suggested efficacy for attacks of migraine treated early during the mild headache phase of the attack. Methods/Materials.— In this multi‐center pilot study, 60 patients treated 221 attacks of migraine with sublingual feverfew/ginger or placebo. All subjects met International Headache Society criteria for migraine with or without aura, experiencing 2‐6 attacks of migraine per month within the previous 3 months. Subjects had <15 headache days per month and were not experiencing medication overuse headache. Inclusion required that subjects were able to identify a period of mild headache in at least 75% of attacks. Subjects were required to be able to distinguish migraine from non‐migraine headache. Subjects were randomized 3:1 to receive either sublingual feverfew/ginger or a matching placebo and were instructed but not required to treat with study medication at the earliest recognition of migraine. Results.— Sixty subjects treated 208 evaluable attacks of migraine over a 1‐month period; 45 subjects treated 163 attacks with sublingual feverfew/ginger and 15 subjects treated 58 attacks with a sublingual placebo preparation. Evaluable diaries were completed for 151 attacks of migraine in the population using feverfew/ginger and 57 attacks for those attacks treated with placebo. At 2 hours, 32% of subjects receiving active medication and 16% of subjects receiving placebo were pain‐free (P = .02). At 2 hours, 63% of subjects receiving feverfew/ginger found pain relief (pain‐free or mild headache) vs 39% for placebo (P = .002). Pain level differences on a 4‐point pain scale for those receiving feverfew/ginger vs placebo were ?0.24 vs ?0.04 respectively (P = .006). Feverfew/ginger was generally well tolerated with oral numbness and nausea being the most frequently occurring adverse event. Conclusion.— Sublingual feverfew/ginger appears safe and effective as a first‐line abortive treatment for a population of migraineurs who frequently experience mild headache prior to the onset of moderate to severe headache.     

Spinalkatheterassoziiertes Liquorverlustsyndrom

Cerebrospinal fluid leak, with its typical postdural puncture headache, occurs in 8–25?% of patients after insertion of a spinal catheter for treatment with an intrathecal pain pump. Symptoms are usually self-limiting; only rarely is an epidural blood patch used. In this case of a 49-year-old woman, we assumed a postdural puncture headache after replacement of the spinal catheter. Because of the persistence of symptoms and serous wound secretion around the paravertebral incision, we decided to test the catheter under radiological control with a contrast agent. Leakage could be seen within the spinal catheter, which was responsible for the symptoms. Because of an ongoing infection accompanied by meningitis the whole system had to be removed.     

Improved description of the migraine aura by a diagnostic aura diary

We present a diagnostic aura diary for prospective recordings of migraine with aura. Three questionnaires are supplemented with sheets for drawings and plottings of visual and sensory auras. Twenty patients recorded 54 attacks of migraine with aura and 2 attacks of migraine aura without headache. The visual and sensory aura were usually gradually progressive, reaching maximum development in 15 and 25 min (median) respectively and had a total duration of 20 and 55 min (median) respectively. Approximately 13% of the attacks had acute onset of visual aura associated with other features more typical of migraine. The visual and sensory auras always preceded typical migraine headache, and headache occurring before aura symptoms was always of the tension type, The migraine headache was milder than in attacks of migraine without aura and often did not have migraine characteristics. In attacks with unilateral head pain, headache and aura symptoms were contralateral in 90% and ipsilateral in 10%.     

Migraine in patients with cluster headache

One hundred and twenty seven patients with cluster headache have been compared with 122 patients with migraine. Twenty of the patients with cluster headache have had migraine attacks but only 2 still have migraine attacks after the onset of cluster headache. No migraine patients had cluster headache. Among the 127 patients with cluster headache, one of the parents suffered from cluster headache in 4.7% of the cases. Among the 122 patients with migraine, 0.8% had a parent with cluster headache. Among the 122 patients with migraine 54.9% had parents with migraine, and in the cluster headache group 23.6% of the patients had one parent with migraine. The coexistence of migraine and cluster headache is rare. The two types of headache, as far as the heredity pattern is concerned, are independent entities.     

A comparison of disability and psychological factors in migraine and transformed migraine

The classification of patients with migraine who develop chronic daily headache is controversial, with some classifying such patients as 'transformed migraine'. We compared patients with intermittent migraine attacks and patients with transformed migraine in terms of mean headache intensity on days with headache, depression, pain-related anxiety and headache-related disability. Patients classified clinically as also having tension-type headache were excluded. Aside from the number of days with headache per month, patients with intermittent migraine attacks and patients with transformed migraine were very similar in terms of all parameters studied. Our results support the concept that these two headache groups are closely related.     

Chronic daily headache. How should it be included in the IHS classification?

A number of patients attending specialty headache centers complain of very frequent, almost continuous or continuous headaches, which are usually grouped together under the term chronic daily headache , a category which does not appear in the International Headache Society (IHS) classification. On the basis of the IHS criteria, these patients can only be classified as having a chronic tension-type headache with the possible addition of migraine, if migrainous attacks are superimposed on the "background" headache. However, several studies have demonstrated that most patients with chronic daily headache originally suffered from migraine and that their migraine has transformed, in the course of time, into a chronic headache picture in which isolated migraine attacks may or may not persist. Despite some differences in the personal opinions of authors involved in the care of patients with chronic daily headache, some views seem to be generally accepted: (1) the great majority of chronic daily headaches are transformations of an original episodic migraine and cannot be included in the chronic tension-type headache category, (2) the current IHS classification does not allow many patients presenting with chronic daily headache to be classified correctly, (3) an important nosological category (transformed migraine) has emerged from all the studies on this subject, (4) it is impossible to diagnose transformed migraine merely by "photographing" the picture of single attacks. Although some theoretical problems remain unresolved, it seems to us that the next revision of the IHS classification can no longer ignore the existence of chronic daily headache.     

EEG during attacks of common and classical migraine

The Copenhagen acute headache clinic offered an opportunity to record EEG during migraine attacks in eleven patients with common migraine and ten patients with classical migraine. The median duration of the attacks was 9 h in common migraine. Three patients were studied during prodromes of classical migraine and seven in the early headache phase. The EEG was recorded in the resting state, during hyperventilation and during photic stimulation. No abnormalities were encountered in patients with common migraine nor in eight patients with classical migraine. In two patients with classical migraine mild abnormalities were seen during prodromes and in the early headache phase, but they were also present at a control EEG taken outside an attack. The present study indicates that migraine attacks are rarely associated with EEG abnormalities.     

Aura phenomena do not initiate migraine attacks—Findings from neuroimaging

Objectives/Background

As cortical spreading depolarization (CSD) has been suggested to be the cause of migraine aura and as CSD can activate trigeminal nociceptive neurons in animals, it has been suggested that CSD may be the cause of migraine attacks. This raises the question of how migraine pain is generated in migraine attacks without aura and has led to the hypothesis that CSD may also occur in subcortical regions in the form of “silent” CSDs, and accordingly “silent auras”.

Methods

In this case study, we provide evidence for common neuronal alterations preceding headache attacks with and without aura in a male patient with migraine, who underwent daily event-correlated functional magnetic resonance imaging of trigeminal nociception for a period of 30 days. During these days the man experienced migraine attacks with and without aura.

Results

Comparing the preictal phases between both attack types revealed a common hyperactivation of the hypothalamus (p < 0.01), which was already present 2 days before the actual attack.

Conclusion

The time frame of the central pathophysiological orchestration of migraine attacks, irrelevant of the presence of later aura, strongly suggests that the aura is an epiphenomenon that is unrelated and does not initiate headache attacks.     

Acute and interictal allodynia in patients with different headache forms: an Italian pilot study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate allodynia in patients with different primary headaches. BACKGROUND: Many migraineurs have allodynia during headache attacks; some may have allodynia outside attacks; allodynia may also be associated with other primary headaches. METHODS: A total of 260 consecutive primary headache patients presenting for the first time at a headache center, and 23 nonheadache controls answered written questions (subsequently repeated verbally) to determine the presence of acute and interictal allodynia. RESULTS: We divided the patients into: episodic migraine (N = 177), subdivided into only migraine without aura (N = 114) and those sometimes or always reporting migraine with aura (N = 63); episodic tension-type headache (N = 28); chronic headaches (headache > or = 15 days/month, N = 52), including chronic migraine, chronic tension-type headache, and medication-overuse headache; and other headache forms (N = 3). Acute allodynia was present in 132 (50.7%), significantly more often in patients sometimes or always suffering migraine with aura, and those with chronic headache forms, compared to patients with migraine without aura and episodic tension-type headache. Interictal allodynia was present in 63 (24.2%) patients, with significantly higher frequency in those having migraine with aura attacks than controls and common migraine patients. CONCLUSIONS: Allodynia is not specific to migraine but is frequent in all headache patients: acute allodynia was reported in half those interviewed and in over a third of patients in each headache category; interictal allodynia was reported by nearly 25%.     

Subdural hematoma after dural puncture headache treated by epidural blood patch. (St. Thomas Hospital, London, United Kingdom) British J Anesth. 2001;86:720–723.

This case study discussed an accidental dural puncture in a 39-year-old patient during the siting of an epidural catheter for pain relief in labor. Twenty hours after the puncture, the mother developed a typical postdural headache, which increased in severity over the subsequent 24-hour period. An epidural blood patch was performed at 48 hours, and this initially relieved the headache. After discharge from the hospital, and 14 days after the dural puncture, the headache recurred, together with expressive dysphasia, poor coordination, and sensory loss in the right arm. A magnetic resonance imaging scan demonstrated a left-sided subdural hematoma, which drained successfully with complete recovery.     

Changing pattern of headache pointing to cerebral venous thrombosis after lumbar puncture and intravenous high-dose corticosteroids

OBJECTIVE: To emphasize the diagnostic importance of change in the headache pattern which pointed to cerebral venous thrombosis in two patients after lumbar puncture and high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone for suspected multiple sclerosis. RESULTS: Both patients had a diagnostic lumbar puncture for suspected multiple sclerosis and were treated with high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone. Both developed a postlumbar puncture headache that was initially postural, typical of low cerebrospinal fluid pressure. Three days later, the headache became constant, lost its postural component, and was associated with bilateral papilledema. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain disclosed superior sagittal and lateral sinuses thrombosis. The diagnostic difficulties of such cases and the potential role of lumbar puncture and corticosteroids as risk factors for cerebral venous thrombosis are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: When a typical postdural puncture headache loses its postural component, investigations should be performed to rule out cerebral venous thrombosis, particularly in the presence of other risk factors.     

Differential emotional precipitation of migraine and tension-type headache attacks

The frequency of precipitation of headache attacks by individual emotional states as well as the awareness of vulnerability to particular emotional precipitants were investigated in 90 consecutive patients with tension-type headache and 50 consecutive migraine subjects at an Outpatient Headache Clinic. There was differential emotional precipitation in tension-type headache and migraine, with patients with tension-type headache reacting more selectively to negative emotional arousal (anger, anxiety) and reporting a graded frequency of attack precipitation by individual emotional states. Migraine subjects reported a more uniform distribution of attacks among different emotional precipitants. The two groups also showed a differential awareness of vulnerability to individual emotional precipitants. A cognitive process screening the emotional precipitants of tension-type headache and migraine attacks is proposed, based on different cognitive schemata functioning either over-effectively or defectively. The significance of cognitive mediation of the precipitation of attacks is further emphasized for a comprehensive management of both tension-type headache and migraine.     

A causative role for remote dural puncture and resultant arachnoid bleb in new daily persistent headache: A case report

A 24-year-old woman experienced a postdural puncture headache following a labor epidural, recovered following bedrest, and was then without headache for 12 years. She then experienced sudden onset of daily, holocephalic headache persisting for 6 years prior to presentation. Pain reduced with prolonged recumbency. MRI brain, MRI myelography, and later bilateral decubitus digital subtraction myelography showed no cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak or CSF venous fistula, and normal opening pressure. Review of an initial noncontrast MRI myelogram revealed a subcentimeter dural outpouching at L3–L4, suspicious for a posttraumatic arachnoid bleb. Targeted epidural fibrin patch at the bleb resulted in profound but temporary symptom relief, and the patient was offered surgical repair. Intraoperatively, an arachnoid bleb was discovered and repaired followed by remission of headache. We report that a distant dural puncture can play a causative role in the long delayed onset of new daily persistent headache.     

Hypothalamic activation in spontaneous migraine attacks

BACKGROUND: Migraine sufferers experience premonitory symptoms which suggest that primary hypothalamic dysfunction is a likely trigger of the attacks. Neuroendocrine and laboratory data also support this hypothesis. To date, positron emission tomography (PET) scans of migraine sufferers have demonstrated activation of brainstem nuclei, but not of the hypothalamus. OBJECTIVE: To record cerebral activations withH2 15OPET during spontaneous migraine without aura attacks. METHODS: We scanned 7 patients with migraine without aura (6 females and 1 male) in each of 3 situations: within 4 hours of headache onset, after headache relief by sumatriptan injection (between the fourth and the sixth hour after headache onset), and during an attack-free period. RESULTS: During the headache we found not only significant activations in the midbrain and pons, but also in the hypothalamus, all persisting after headache relief by sumatriptan. CONCLUSION: Hypothalamic activity, long suspected by clinical and experimental arguments as a possible trigger for migraine, is demonstrated for the first time during spontaneous attacks.     

Differential diagnosis of postdural puncture headache in the parturient

In the obstetric setting, spinal and epidural analgesia/anesthesia are the 2 most frequently used forms of analgesia and anesthesia. One of the potential complications of these procedures is the postdural puncture headache (PDPH), and there is a high probability that the anesthetist will have occasion to evaluate the headache complaints of the parturient. The author reviews the differential process and discusses some of the causes and treatments of headaches in the parturient.