Headache

OVERVIEW: What every practitioner needs to know

Are you sure your patient has a headache? What are the typical findings for this disease?

Headache or cephalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck.

Head pain – Determining the location, quality, duration, and frequency of head pain, along with associated symptoms, helps classify which type of headache the patient is having.

• Location: unilateral versus bilateral versus entire head; frontal versus occipital versus temporal

  ---

  Continue Reading

• Quality: pounding or throbbing, squeezing or tightness, stabbing or shooting

• Duration: seconds to days

• Frequency: sporadic, monthly, daily, multiple times per day; may also relate to specific times (eg, only with menstrual cycles)

• Associated symptoms: See below under each headache subtype

• Certain types of headaches can present without head pain

Headache Definition

Headaches are classified by the International Headache Society’s International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD), which published the second edition in 2004. Headaches can be generally subdivided into primary headaches, secondary headaches, and cranial neuralgias/central and primary facial pain.

• Primary headachesare those types in which there is no other identifiable etiology for the headaches. These are the most common type of headaches. They include migraine, tension, cluster and other trigeminal autonomic cephalgias (TAC). Some would also include chronic daily headache in the primary category. There are other rare primary headaches as classified by ICHD-2 that will not be discussed here.

• Secondary headaches are those in which another etiology for the pain (symptom) can be found. These will not be discussed here.

• Cranial neuralgiasare head and facial pain disorders that are short in duration but have severe pain in an anatomic distribution of the affected cranial nerve. These are exceedingly rare in children and are always, especially in children, a diagnosis of exclusion.

Migraine

Migraine is one of the most common types of headaches in children and adults. It is high in prevalence with high disability and is one of the primary neurologic reasons for emergency department visits for children and adults.

In general, migraine can be subdivided into two broad categories:

• With aura

• Without aura

Other migraine classification groups include

• Childhood periodic syndromes that are precursors to migraine

• Retinal migraine—not discussed here

• Complications of migraine—for example, status migraine, migraine infarction, migraine-triggered seizure—not discussed here

• Probable migraine—not discussed here

For more information on retinal migraine, complications of migraine, and probable migraine see ICHD-2.

Migraine Diagnostic Criteria—Pediatric (patients up to 18 years old):

1. Less than five attacks fulfilling features 2 through 4

2.

a) Headache attack lasting 1 to 72 hours

b) Pulsating quality

c) Moderate to severe intensity

d) Aggravated by routine physical activities

3. At least 1 of the following accompanies the headache:

a) Nausea and/or vomiting

b) Photophobia and/or phonophobia (may be inferred from their behavior)

For patients over 18 years of age, there are somewhat different criteria:

• 2. Duration must be greater than 4 hours

• 3a. Unilateral only

• 4b. May not infer from behavior

Migraine Types

Migraine without aura—The most common type of migraine. It typically has more frequent attacks and is typically more disabling than other types of migraine.

• Can be associated with menstrual cycles

• With frequent enough attacks, can be classified as chronic (see below)

• Can be related to medication overuse

Migraine with aura—Less common than without aura but often those with aura will also have attacks without aura. The aura is generally a neurologic or sensory symptom(s) that occur(s) prior to or at onset of migraine. Patients may develop an aura without migraine. Auras gradually build over minutes and last 5 to 60 minutes.

• Visual Auras—flickering/flashing lights, spots, lines, colors, temporary loss of vision

• Sensory Auras—smell, sound, numbness, pins and needles sensation

• Speech Auras—any speech disturbance from their baseline

• Motor Weakness—if this is accompanied by another aura (see above) and migraine then the diagnosis of hemiplegic migraine is appropriate; if there is a positive family history the diagnosis is familial hemiplegic migraine, otherwise it is sporadic.

Basilar-Type Migraine (a subset of migraine with aura)—Migraine that has aura symptoms originating from the brainstem or bilateral hemispheres but without weakness. Must have at least two of the following:

• Dysarthria

• Vertigo

• Tinnitus

• Diplopia

• Visual symptoms if both eyes in all fields

• Ataxia

• Bilateral paraesthesias

• Decreased level of consciousness

Childhood periodic syndromes that are precursors to migraine—Grouping of three syndromes that when seen in children often will lead to migraine development later in life. These syndromes do not necessarily have headaches as part of their clinical picture.

• Cyclical Vomiting—Recurrent episodic attacks of vomiting and significant nausea that are often stereotypical. Each attack lasts 1 hour to 5 days and during the attack emesis must occur at a rate of 4 times an hour for 1 hour and there must be at least five attacks over time. There can be no cause found for the emesis and the patient must be symptom free between attacks.

• Abdominal Migraine—Idiopathic recurrent episodes of abdominal pain seen typically in school-aged children. The pain is midline/periumbilical or hard to localize, is dull in quality, moderate to severe in intensity, lasting 1 to 72 hours, and must be accompanied by at least two of the following: anorexia, nausea, vomiting, pallor. Five episodes must have occurred to make this diagnosis.

• Benign Paroxysmal Vertigo of Childhood—At least five attacks of recurrent, brief, self-limiting attacks of vertigo in previously healthy children. While not part of the diagnosis criteria, the patient should have normal neurologic, audiologic, and vestibular examination between episodes and also should have a normal electroencephalogram (EEG).

Tension

The most common type of primary headache seen in 30% to 80% of people. Often referred to as muscle headache, stress headache, ordinary/common headache.

In general, tension headache can be subdivided into two broad categories:

• Episodic—can be infrequent or frequent

• Chronic (see chronic daily headache)

Tension Headache Diagnostic Criteria:

1. 10 attacks fulfilling features 2 through 4: episodic infrequent is 1/month, episodic frequent is 1 to 15/month for 3 months

2. Headache attack lasting 30 minutes to 7 days

3. Headache has at least two of the following four features:

a) Bilateral location

b) Squeezing or pressing/tightening quality

c) Moderate to severe intensity

d) Not aggravated by routine physical activities

4. At least 1 of the following accompanies headache:

a) No nausea and/or vomiting

b) Can have photophobia or phonophobia but not both

Chronic Daily Headache

Chronic daily headaches can be migraine or tension type headaches. It is important to exclude medication overuse (rebound) headache from overuse of analgesics.

For chronic migraine, diagnostic criteria above for migraine still apply.

• More than15 migraines/month for 3 consecutive months without medication overuse being a confounding factor

• If the individual migraine lasts more than 3 to 5 days, then it would constitute status migrainosis

• It is possible to have both status migrainosis and chronic migraine

For chronic tension headaches, diagnostic criteria above for tension headache still apply.

• On average, greater than 15 headaches/month for 3 or more months

• Headache may be continuous and if lasts more then 1 day then would count as separate days towards 15

Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgias (TACs)

This group of primary headaches incorporates headaches that are found to be brief, repetitive episodes of intense headache associated with autonomic, usually parasympathetic signs and trigeminal activation. These are overall rare in children as well as the general population.

This group includes

Cluster headaches

SUNCT (short-lasting, unilateral, neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing)

Paroxysmal hemicrania

TAC types

Cluster—Severe attacks of pain that is sharp, drilling, boring, or stabbing; localized to the orbital, periorbital, or temporal region. The pain is always unilateral and does not change sides during an attack. Each attack can last minutes to hours and can occur many times a day. May be episodic or chronic.

Must include two of the following:

ipsilateral tearing and/or conjunctival injection

ipsilateral nasal congestion and/or rhinorhea

ipsilateral eyelid edema

ipsilateral facial sweating

ipsilateral miosis or ptosis

restlessness or agitation

SUNCT- SUNCT stands for short-lasting, unilateral, neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing. TAC is seen rarely in children. These headaches are short (seconds to a few minutes) sharp stabbing orbital or periorbital pain that is always accompanied by conjunctival injection and almost always tearing. Other autonomic symptoms may be present. They may occur several hundred times a day.

Paroxysmal hemicrania—These pains are similar cluster headaches and is relatively rare in children. Key differentiation is absolute responsiveness to indomethacin. The attacks are generally unilateral, severe, sharp stabbing pain in the temporal or superorbital region with the autonomic symptoms listed above for cluster headache. The attacks last 2 to 30 minutes and can occur many times a day. They can be episodic or chronic.

What other disease/condition shares some of these symptoms?

Headaches can be primary or secondary in nature; the key is differentiating between the two so an underlying etiology is not missed. This is accomplished by thorough history and physical examination in conjunction with utilizing the headache classification system set forth in ICHD-2.

Possible conditions/diseases that can present as headaches:

• Brain Tumor

• Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension – pseudotumor cerebri

• Infection—chronic/acute meningitis or any other CNS infection, sinusitis, otitis, and viral including influenza

• Drug Intoxication—illicit, prescription, over-the-counter, and medication overuse

• Trauma—concussion, neck strain/injury, intracranial hematoma, and postsurgical

• Vascular Disorder—stroke/TIA, intracranial hemorrhage including subarachnoid, vascular malformation including aneurysm, AVM, or fistula, venous thrombosis, vasculitis, and inherited such as CADASIL or MELAS

• Intracranial Hypotension—post–lumbar puncture, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak

• Homeostasis Changes—hypertension, hypoxia, hypothyroidism, and fasting

• Psychiatric

What caused this disease to develop at this time?

It is very difficult to say why headaches present when they do or what causes them to develop. Many are familial.

Each headache type has a general age range of development; however, there are always outliers, and typically it is children who present outside of the general age range. Headaches can develop at essentially any age from toddlerhood through adulthood. They often start in puberty.

The actual precipitating event or cause that leads to headache development is typically not known and can be different for each patient.

What laboratory studies should you request to help confirm the diagnosis? How should you interpret the results?

Routine laboratory testing in general has not been shown to be helpful in the diagnosis or evaluation of headaches in children and adolescents. The American Academy of Neurology’s practice parameter does not recommend any standard laboratory tests, including lumbar puncture, be obtained during the work-up for headache in pediatrics.

Only if history and physical exam raises concern for secondary headache should laboratory testing be considered. In this circumstance, the testing should be directed to help to evaluate or confirm the suspected primary diagnosis that has led to a secondary headache.

Would imaging studies be helpful? If so, which ones?

Neuroimaging does have its place in evaluating pediatric patients with headaches. However, with a thorough history and detailed physical exam, including extensive neurological exam with fundoscopic evaluation, most patients do not warrant imaging as part of their evaluation.

If there are abnormalities on exam, including focal neurological findings, signs of increased intracranial pressure, or changes in mental status or consciousness, neuroimaging should be obtained.

If there are concerns from the history, including recent onset of severe headache, changes in headache type, neurological dysfunction, history of seizures, concerning associated symptoms along with the headaches, or “red flags” (see below) neuroimaging should be considered.

The type of neuroimaging to be obtained is based on the urgency for the study and the differential diagnosis being considered.

• Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—Longer, harder to obtain (especially if a young child requires sedation), more expensive study that is very good at giving detailed picture of intracranial compartment. It will show almost any intracranial abnormality, large or small, and it can show intracranial vasculature. The MRI provides great detail without radiation. Negatives include reduced availability, length of the study, and expense. Overall, MRI is the study of choice if there is a concern for any intracranial abnormality. Often it will be obtained after screening computed tomography (CT) if there is concern for an acute abnormality.

• Head CT—Quick, easy to obtain, and relatively inexpensive study that is good at visualizing overall gross intracranial structures. It demonstrates blood, intracranial masses, hydrocephalus, and bone. Negatives include radiation, poor visualization of the posterior fossa. CT scan does not offer anatomical detail, and may miss small intracranial masses. Overall a good screening study if there is an acute concern for intracranial abnormality.

• Cranial/Cervical X-ray—Quick, easy to obtain, inexpensive study that visualizes bone structure. These studies should only be done if there is concern for bony abnormality, such as fracture. Overall x-ray has very limited role in evaluation of headaches.

Confirming the diagnosis

Headaches can be primary or secondary in nature – the key is differentiating between the two so not to miss an underlying etiology. This is accomplished by thorough history and physical exam in conjunction with utilizing the headache classification system set forth by the International Headache Society in ICHD-2.

Key History Points

• Time pattern of headaches (new, episodic, daily, stable or worsening)

• When did headaches start, any precipitating factor

• How long do they last, how often do they come

• Any warning signs or triggers

• Where is the pain and what does it feel like

• Any associated symptoms

• What makes headaches better or worse

• What medication/treatment is used and how often

• Family history of headaches – if so what kind

• Lifestyle issues: hydration, exercise, diet, sleep, stress

Key Examination Points

• Vital signs – including temperature, blood pressure, and head circumference

• Careful head and neck exam

• Skin—screen for neurocutaneous syndromes

• Complete detailed neurologic examination, including fundoscopic examination

History or Examination "Red Flags"

• Acute onset of first headache

• Steady worsening of headaches

• Awakening from sleep due to headaches

• Persistent vomiting

• Associated symptoms that suggest posterior fossa (for example: vision change, vertigo, vomiting, cranial neuropathies)

• Concurrent infection with findings suggestive of CNS infection

• Any neurologic examination finding that may suggest focality

• Any abnormality on fundoscopic examination

• Vital sign irregularities suggestive of marked hypertension or increased intracranial pressure

Using these key history, examination, and “red flags” as well as incorporating the ICHD-2 diagnostic criteria will allow a likely diagnosis to be made and help determine the need for ancillary testing.

If you are able to confirm that the patient has headaches, what treatment should be initiated?

Treatment of headaches can be broken down into the acute management and the chronic management. Acute management involves abortive therapy in the home or emergency department setting. Chronic management is geared to ongoing control of headaches and preventative measures, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment. (See Table I, Acute/Abortive Treatment; and Table II, Prophylactic Treatment.)