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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In the last decade, world literature abounds in reports of harmful side effects which develop with the use of oral contraceptives including visual problems such as partial and total clotting in the retinal veins, infections, blood in the retina, and dilated veins signalling imminent stroke. 2 particular cases treated at the Opthalmological Clinic of the Academy of Medicine in Lodz deserve consideration. M.W., a 19 year old student who had had measles and scarlet fever in childhood, reported increasing visual problems. Due to irregular menstrual periods, she had been taking the contraceptive Angravid, consisting of 1 mg ethynodiol acetate, a synthetic progestogen and .05 mg mestranol, a synthetic estrogen. After a complete examination retrobulbar neuritis with the presence of papilloedema in the eye fundus of local origin was diagnosed. She was treated for general and local infection and for the prevention of clotting. After a month all symptoms regressed. H.U., a 30 year old stomatologist, reported to the clinic, complaining of sudden and periodic visual disturbances occurring in both eyes, accompanied by severe headache pains. In childhood she had had measles and whooping cough, later frequent bouts of flu and angina. She had given birth 3 times, each a natural delivery with healthy children. Recently she had been taking the oral contraceptive femigen, consisting of 2 mg chloromadinon acetate and .05 mg mestranol. After a complete series of skull and brain tests, papilloedema with the pseudotumor syndrome cerebri was diagnosed. Intensive treatment for edema produced visible improvement and the patient was discharged.
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PMID:[Ophthalmological complications after oral contraceptives (author's transl)]. 67 30

The dispute about whether migraine and cluster headache are one disorder--the "unified theory"--or two facets of a spectrum of "vascular headache" has not yet been settled. The author discusses various clinical features that unite or divide migraine and cluster headache in this respect: so-called "mixed forms" of vascular headache, corneal indentation pulse amplitudes, partial Horner's syndrome and possible aberrations in histamine metabolism. Evidence is presented showing that there may exist subunits of cluster headache, such as chronic paroxysmal hemicrania (C.P.H.) and a hitherto unreported type that co-exists with recurring bouts of retrobulbar neuritis and a partial factor XII deficiency.
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PMID:So-called "vascular headache of the migraine type": one or more nosological entities? 95 2

A 56-year-old, previously reported woman with cluster headache-like headache with bouts of unilateral (the side of predominance changing through the years) severe headache had a familial history (three generations) of partial Hageman factor deficiency and bleeding episodes. A giant aneurysm was found to be lodged in the anterior communicating artery on the left side. Clinically, the features were atypical for cluster headache: onset at a young age (14 years), episodes of retrobulbar neuritis appearing at the side of pain, etc. Studies of forehead sweating indicated that the right side was the pathologic one, from an autonomic point of view, as did pupillometric studies. However, during attacks, which were left-sided at the time, forehead sweating was marked laterally on the left side and on the upper eyelid, but not on the right. The "signal" usually reaching the autonomically stigmatized side during attacks of cluster headache, therefore, did not seem to reach the sweat glands on that (the right) side during the attack in the present case. This headache may, therefore, be distinct from cluster headache, both from a clinical and from an autonomic function point of view.
Cephalalgia 1988 Jun
PMID:Cluster headache-like headache, Hageman trait deficiency, retrobulbar neuritis, and giant aneurysm. Autonomic function studies. 340 13

The effects of ovulation inhibitors on the central nervous system are discussed. These include headaches (including migraine), cerebral pseudotumor (unexplained increase in intracranial pressure), lesions of the optic nerve such as retrobulbar neuritis, papillitis and papilledema, and occlusions of retinal veins and arteries, and mild psychological effects. Cerebral thromboembolism is the most important group of side effects, and has been reported frequently, although its incidence is about 25% that of pregnancy. In isolated instances, chorea, polyneuropathy, and myalgia have been reported as side effects. Little or nothing is known of the effects of oral contraceptives in epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
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PMID:[Ovulation inhibitors and the nervous system]. 551 11

We report a 66 years old male, with an ophtalmologic history of long sightedness, admitted to the hospital due to paroxysmal atrial fibrillation crises in the context of a coronary heart disease. He was treated with i.v. amiodarone, receiving a total dose of 6 g in 72 hours. After the third day of treatment, the patient noticed a correction of his long sightedness and 24 h later, he complained of hlurred vision and orbital frontal headache. Visual field examination revealed a concentric retraction of visual field and a centrocecal scotoma in both eyes. Amiodarone was withdrawn and dexametasone treatment was begun. Three days after amiodarone discontinuation, sight improved and visual field returned to normal. Although retrobulbar neuritis has been associated to various drugs, amiodarone has not been considered as a possible agent.
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PMID:[Amiodarone induced retrobulbar neuritis. Clinical case]. 1066 91

We report an unusual case of neurobrucellosis who presented with headache, vision loss, confusional state, retrobulbar neuritis and left hemiparesis. Neuroimaging studies showed features of ischemic infarct and white matter abnormalities. Pulmonary involvement in form of lobar pneumonia of left basal lobe was another unusual manifestation. Diagnosis was based on the rising titers of antibrucella antibody. Patient showed remarkable improvement on triple drug therapy in form of doxycycline, rifampicin and streptomycin.
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PMID:Extensive meningoencephalitis, retrobulbar neuritis and pulmonary involvement in a patient of neurobrucellosis. 1755 23

An unusual presentation of Devic's neuromyelitis optica (NMO) disease associated with bilateral internuclear ophthalmoplegia (INO) is described. A 32-year-old pregnant patient was diagnosed with NMO. First symptoms were headache and sudden visual loss in her right eye (RE). Eighteen months ago, she reported other neurologic symptoms such as paresthesia. Based on her visual field, fundoscopy and Ishihara test, she was diagnosed with retrobulbar neuritis of the RE. After delivery, new neurologic symptoms resembling transverse myelitis appeared. She was treated with methylprednisolone and plasmapheresis, which improved her visual acuity; however, a sudden bilateral INO appeared, with adduction defect and nystagmus with abduction in both eyes. No improvement was obtained after treatment with azathioprine and rituximab. Paresis of the legs and the right arm persisted, but double vision and OIN gradually disappeared. At the end, the patient had a residual exophoria in the RE and nystagmus with abduction in the left eye. Prevalence of NMO is lower than one case per one million inhabitants, and it is not likely to affect the encephalic trunk; furthermore, bilateral INO in NMO is rare. Two major criteria and at least two of the three minor ones are required to confirm a NMO diagnosis, and our patient fulfilled these diagnosis criteria.
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PMID:Bilateral Internuclear Ophthalmoplegia in a Patient with Devic's Neuromyelitis Optica. 2111 84

Idiopathic hypertrophic pachymeningitis (IHP) is a chronic progressive diffuse inflammatory fibrosis of the dura-mater, leading to its diffuse enlargement. The following describes a case of IHP presenting with a superficial soft tissue mass. A 40-year-old female came to hospital with a subcutaneous lump over the left face and frontal headache for 6 months. An excision biopsy revealed chronic inflammation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain showed left mastoiditis and early dural inflammation of the left temporal region. A few months later, she developed diplopia, complex partial seizures, and retrobulbar neuritis of the left optic nerve. Repeat MRI brain demonstrated meningeal thickening on both sides of the tentorium cerebelli extending to the left tempero-parietal meninges. The meningeal biopsy revealed markedly thickened fibro-connective dural tissue with infiltration of chronic inflammatory cells. There was no evidence of bacterial, fungal, tuberculous or neoplastic infiltration. IHP was diagnosed and steroid therapy initiated. Within weeks, she showed marked clinical improvement. IHP is a diagnosis of exclusion. The absence of underlying infective, neoplastic, or systemic autoimmune disease favors IHP. The above patient had headache, neuro-ophthalmic signs, seizures, which are features of IHP. However, superficial soft tissue involvement is rare.
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PMID:Idiopathic hypertrophic pachymeningitis presenting with a superficial soft tissue mass. 2286 79

We report a patient of 32-year-old female with central IgG4-related disease. She developed headache and visual disturbance. On examination, she revealed diabetes insipidus, retrobulbar neuritis, hyperreflexia and limb weakness. Her laboratory findings showed serum IgG4 elevation, pleocytosis and protein elevation in cerebrospinal fluid. Chest CT showed a nodular lesion in the S8 of the left lung. Cranial and spinal magnetic resonance images with gadolinium contrast material showed cranial, cervical and lumbosacral hypertrophic pachymeningitis associated with infundibulo-hypophysitis. Pathological findings of the left frontal dura mater revealed lymphoplasmacytic inflammatory cell infiltrate with dense fibrosis. IgG4 immunohistochemistry showed no IgG4 + plasma cells within the inflammatory infiltrate. During treatment with intravenous pulse methylprednisolone followed by oral prednisolone, she revealed recovery of visual acuity with improvement of hypertrophic pachymeningitis and normalization of serum IgG4. This is a first report of IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis which involved cranial, cervical and lumbosacral regions as well as infundibulo-hypophysitis in a young female.
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PMID:[IgG4-related disease that presented cranial, cervical, lumbar and sacral hypertrophic pachymeningitis associated with infundibulo-hypophysitis]. 2514 40