Headache
-
Few studies in adolescents deal with the level of agreement between questionnaire and interview information in relation to headache symptoms. ⋯ The results indicate that our self-administered questionnaire may be an acceptable instrument in determining the prevalence of migraine sufferers in the northeast Italy adolescent population, useful in identifying subjects with "definite" migraine.
-
Despite the high level of individual and societal burden resulting from headache disorders, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded relatively little research on these disorders. ⋯ A small number of research grants on headache disorders were funded by the NIH over the last 2 decades, with 2007 funding estimated between $6.8 and $13 million. By comparison to NIH funding of research on 10 chronic medical conditions relative to disease burden, headache research funding should exceed $103 million annually.
-
To investigate a clinical population of patients with hemicrania continua (HC), looking at the diagnostic problems they have encountered and their use of healthcare resources and at issues relating to the effectiveness of treatments. ⋯ Hemicrania continua may be misdiagnosed and mistreated even by neurologists. There is a need for greater awareness and understanding of this condition.
-
New treatments are needed to treat chronic daily headache (CDH) and chronic cluster headache (CCH). New treatments are needed to treat this population and intravenous (IV) lidocaine is a novel treatment for CDH. ⋯ This study suggests benefit of lidocaine treatment and the need for further prospective analyses. The mechanism of lidocaine in treating headache is unknown.
-
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is usually considered to result from deficient intracranial absorption of cerebrospinal fluid, but has also been suggested to be caused by decreased cranial venous flow because of increased intrathoracic pressure resulting from intra-abdominal obesity. To test this hypothesis, cerebrospinal fluid pressure (Pcsf), extracranial venous pressure (Pvf), intracranial venous pressure, and body mass index (BMI) were studied in patients with IIH with papilledema compared with patients with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). ⋯ Chronic tension-type headache patients may be prone to have Pcsf > 200 mm water and BMI > 25. Papilledema because of intracranial hypertension occurred in the present study at Pcsf > 350 mm water. The findings of Pvfc and Pcsf being similar in all CTTH patients support the suggestion that the techniques used for measuring intracranial venous pressure are adequate. The findings of similar BMI in the CTTH and the IIH patients who differed significantly as to Pcsf refute the hypothesis that obesity precedes, and is the cause of, intracranial hypertension in IIH. The difference between Pcsf and Pvfc in 6 of the IIH patients also does not support such a hypothesis but may indicate that IIH is due to deficient intracranial cerebrospinal fluid absorption. Since a relationship between intracranial hypertension and obesity is established and obesity is not found to cause intracranial hypertension in IIH, intracranial hypertension may be suggested to be the primary cause of weight increase in IIH. Obesity, however, may secondarily increase the preexistent IIH.