Cardiac cephalalgia. Case report and review of the literature with new ICHD-II criteria revisited

Eur Neurol. 2004;51(4):221-6. doi: 10.1159/000078489. Epub 2004 May 17.

Abstract

We report a patient with cardiac cephalalgia and review reported cases from the English-language literature based on the new diagnostic criteria published in the International Classification of Headache Disorders, ed 2. Twenty-two patients, including ours, with headaches of cardiac origin were reviewed. The cases fit three of the four new criteria well: Criteria B (acute myocardial ischemia has occurred, 100%), C (headache developed concomitantly with acute myocardial ischemia, 100%), and D (headache resolved and does not recur after effective medical or surgical treatment for myocardial ischemia, 83%). The cases in which we had exceptions were to the proposed headache features (criterion A), which were generally not fulfilled, with nausea as the least frequent finding (27%); this criterion might not be mandatory for diagnosis.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Electroencephalography / methods
  • Female
  • Headache / diagnosis
  • Headache / etiology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Myocardial Ischemia / complications*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Review Literature as Topic