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

We report a case of meningitis caused by inadvertent introduction of bacteria following spinal anaesthesia for Caesarean section. The technique of performing the spinal anaesthesia is reviewed. Meningitis may occur, although very rarely, despite meticulous aseptic techniques. It is vital that meningitis should be considered in the differential diagnoses of post-spinal headache when patients present with headaches, pyrexia and meningism in the postoperative or postpartum period.
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PMID:Bacterial meningitis following spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section. 180 60

About half of the aneurysm patients admitted to neurosurgical departments experience warning symptoms in the form of minor bleeding episodes days or even several months before a major haemorrhage occurs. Headache is the most common symptom of this warning leak, occurring in 9 out of 10 patients. The onset of headache is sudden and is unusual in severity and location, being unlike any headache the patient has otherwise experienced. It is frequently accompanied by transient nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances or meningism. Medical advice may be sought by the patient but all too often the diagnostic importance of a warning headache is missed. It is misinterpreted as attacks of migraine, tension headache, the 'flu, sinusitis, or a "sprained neck". A more vigilant attention to the presence of a warning headache probably offers the greatest opportunity for altering the otherwise serious natural history of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage. If a warning headache is suspected, lumbar puncture is the examination of choice, once CT scanning has ruled out an intracranial mass lesion.
Cephalalgia 1991 Feb
PMID:Headache as a warning symptom of impending aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage. 203 71

Cryptococcosis is a known opportunistic infection in immunosuppressed hosts. We report our experience of all cases presenting to our Department between December 1975 and September 1988. Eight post-renal transplant patients and three systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients were affected. All were receiving treatment with steroids, in association with either azathioprine or cyclosporin. The diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis was initially based on a positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cryptococcal antigen, by latex agglutination test, and subsequently confirmed by cultures. Common clinical presentations, in descending order of frequency, included headaches, fever, mental confusion, epilepsy and papilloedema. Meningism was not a prominent feature. CT brain scans were obtained in eight patients and one showed a focal lesion and one showed cerebral atrophy. Four patients also had an abnormal chest X-ray (CXR) and one had disseminated cryptococcosis. Amphotericin and 5-fluorocytosine were the mainstay of therapy, although ketoconazole alone was subsequently used in three selected patients with cure. Four early deaths occurred in patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment, usually in association with other severe concurrent infections. We conclude that awareness of cryptococcosis is essential in immunocompromised hosts presenting with headache with, or without, mental confusion or fever.
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PMID:Cryptococcosis in a renal unit. 228 81

We studied five patients with cerebral hemorrhage limited to the head of the caudate nucleus. This rare localization represents 11% of central nuclei hemorrhages. This entity has various clinical expressions; some are similar to a subarachnoid hemorrhage, others show the same manifestations associated with hemiparesis and neuropsychological findings, while still in others, the neuropsychological syndrome with speech, behaviour or memory disturbances predominates. Recovery depends on the patient's previous clinical status and on the presence of associated lesions at the time of hemorrhage. Typical warning signs, like headache, are often absent in the elderly and debilitated. Meningismus is explained by the intraventricular extension of the hemorrhage. Motor deficit, usually moderate, is probably due to impairment of the anterior portion of the posterior arm of the internal capsule. Destruction of the head of the left caudate nucleus, which is part of the circuit causing "subcortical aphasias", is responsible for non specific speech disturbances, that are however remarkably rich in semantic paraphasias. These dysfunctions could be caused by a "cortical diaschisis" as suggested by SPECT analysis. Memory dysfunction as a result of caudate lesion is questioned. However confusion and behavioural disturbances, like preservations, transitory mutism and self neglect, seem characteristic. As shown by cerebral blood flow (CBF) studies, these disturbances might represent a frontal dysfunction caused by the interruption of the dorso-latero-prefrontal and orbito-frontal circuits. When the hemorrhage extends beyond the head of the caudate nucleus, behavioural changes occur due to the involvement of neighbouring structures such as the thalamus, internal capsule, temporal lobe and nucleus accumbens. Caudate hemorrhages occur mostly in the elderly, often with long-standing arterial hypertension causing lesions of the lenticulo-striate arteries. Severe stenosis or complete occlusion of the middle cerebral artery with a fragile anastomotic circuit or angiopathies in younger individuals (particularly Asiatics: moyamoya disease) are less frequent, but they should be considered and investigated by arteriography. Vascular malformations are a rare cause and a relationship with amyloid angiopathy can only be suspected.
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PMID:[Hematoma of the head of the caudate nucleus]. 229 Oct 35

A retrospective review of 16 consecutive patients with pituitary apoplexy treated over a 10-year period is reported. Eight men and 8 women (mean age, 48 years) underwent transsphenoidal decompression after an average duration of symptoms of 19 days. The diagnosis of pituitary apoplexy was made by the sudden onset of headache (88%), nausea (56%), or meningismus (13%), with or without visual disturbances (75%), in the setting of a sellar tumor on computed tomographic or magnetic resonance imaging scans. Thirteen of 16 patients showed significant improvement of symptoms after surgery (average follow-up, 2.5 years). In addition, 5 patients with clinically silent yet extensive pituitary hemorrhage were treated. Although extensive pituitary hemorrhage often produced fulminant apoplexy, it also presented insidiously over many days with few, if any, clinical signs. Rapid diagnosis, endocrine replacement, and transsphenoidal decompression constituted effective therapy. Magnetic resonance imaging (after at least 12 hours of symptoms) was superior to computed tomography in detecting hemorrhage.
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PMID:Clinical versus subclinical pituitary apoplexy: presentation, surgical management, and outcome in 21 patients. 236 75

An epidemic of group A meningococcal disease began in Auckland in May 1985. There were 122 paediatric cases of meningococcal disease in the next 25 months including 98 cases due to group A. The commonest clinical symptoms were vomiting, headache and photophobia, while frequent signs included fever, seizures, petechial rash and meningism or a bulging fontanelle. Complications were uncommon and included sterile arthritis and prolonged fever. The majority had disease confirmed by positive blood or cerebrospinal fluid culture. Significantly fewer positive cultures were seen in those treated with antibiotics prior to admission. The overall mortality was 7%. If the acute illness was survived, the only detected long term sequela was sensorineural hearing loss seen in 6%. A vaccine programme has been undertaken to control this epidemic.
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PMID:The clinical features of paediatric meningococcal disease Auckland, 1985-87. 249 88

All cases of mumps meningoencephalitis diagnosed at our institution during the past 15 years were reviewed. There were 24 cases, 16 between 1973 and 1977, 3 between 1978 and 1985 and 5 in 1986 to 1988. Four of the recent cases occurred 19 to 26 days after receipt of a new mumps vaccine (Urabe Am 9 strain) released in Canada in 1986. The remaining 20 cases were clustered in winter and spring. The average age was 6.2 years and the ratio of males to females was 5:1. Clinical presentations were fever (90%), vomiting (90%), meningismus (70%), headache (65%), parotitis (50%) and seizures (30%). The mean cerebrospinal fluid white blood cell count was 513/mm3 (lymphocyte predominance); 55% of patients had a cerebrospinal fluid protein level of greater than 0.4 g/liter, and the cerebrospinal fluid:blood glucose ratio was greater than 0.4 in all. Two patients had adverse sequelae. The clinical and laboratory features of these cases were not significantly different from the vaccine-associated cases.
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PMID:Clinical and epidemiologic features of mumps meningoencephalitis and possible vaccine-related disease. 259 49

The symptoms and clinical course of meningococcaemia in 14 cases are described; 10 patients died; in one of the four survivors amputations were inevitable for necrosis of hands and feet. The foremost symptoms at the first time that a doctor was contacted were fever, lethargy, petechiae and purpura. The fulminant course is shown by the high number of resuscitation at the time of admission or in the first hours after admission, and by the time between first symptoms and death. The mortality of meningococcaemia is mostly not due to meningitis. Most patients die of septic shock even before signs of meningitis can develop. The early signs of meningococcaemia are not those of meningitis, but those of sepsis. Meningism and headache are rare symptoms. The severest symptoms are fever and lethargy, in combination with petechiae and purpura. The fulminant course of the disease requires immediate admission. Treatment of infection and septic shock may be lifesaving.
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PMID:[Not meningitis but septic shock as the killer in acute meningococcal disease]. 271 11

Experience with typhoid fever in 111 children over a 5-year period was reviewed. There were 66 boys and 45 girls, ranging in age from 1 to 11.5 years. The symptoms of typhoid fever were quite non-specific. Fever was the most common presenting symptom (in 98.3%). Other common presenting features were diarrhoea (25.7%), constipation (22%), vomiting (21.1%), cough (25%), abdominal pain (27.5%), headache (9.2%), epistaxis, meningism and convulsions. Rose spots were detected in 20% of cases, occurring mainly during the first 2 weeks of illness. Significant Widal reactions were present in 84.7% of cases. Blood and stool cultures were positive in 57% and 44% of cases, respectively. Peripheral blood white cell counts were not found to be of great diagnostic value. Chloramphenicol remained the drug of choice in the treatment of typhoid fever. It was more effective than ampicillin or co-trimoxazole. Complications were uncommon, occurring in only two patients. There were two deaths; both were admitted late and in moribund state. Early diagnosis and treatment is vital in typhoid fever and, as the presenting features are non-specific, a high index of suspicion is required.
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PMID:Typhoid fever in Hong Kong children. 278 7

Fourteen cases of subdural empyema seen in Oxford since the introduction of the CT scanner are reviewed; 11 were male and 12 survived. The clinical presentation was stereotyped and characterised by severe headache, fever and meningism followed after a few days by rapidly progressive drowsiness, focal signs, papilloedema and seizures. All had radiological evidence of paranasal sinus disease (particularly frontal) although this was not apparent clinically in the majority. Plain skull and sinus radiographs remain important early investigations. Over-reliance can be placed on the CT scan which initially may be normal or show only non-specific hemisphere swelling. Parafalcine collections are easily missed. The diagnosis of subdural empyema remains difficult and a high index of clinical suspicion is required. Outcome depends on prompt treatment with parenteral antibiotics and surgical drainage.
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PMID:Subdural empyema--continuing diagnostic problems in the CT scan era. 287 83


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