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

Thunderclap headache is an acute high intensity headache similar to that seen in the setting of ruptured saccular aneurysm. We report four patients without subarachnoid hemorrhage who presented with thunderclap headache. Three patients had transient neurologic signs or symptoms. Cerebral angiography revealed diffuse segmental intracerebral arterial vasoconstriction which was reversible in the one patient in whom angiography was repeated. The headaches resolved spontaneously in all cases and after 1 week did not recur. These cases highlight the specific clinical and angiographic features and the self-limited course of patients with thunderclap headache and suggest that thunderclap headache may represent a unique headache category. On the basis of these cases and others reported in the literature, we propose diagnostic criteria for thunderclap headache.
Headache 1995 Jan
PMID:Clinical and angiographic features of thunderclap headache. 786 26

Acute severe headache indicative of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), but without the requisite proof, is defined as thunderclap. A special pathophysiological mechanism for the development of this headache is not known as yet. This retrospective study comprised 84 patients. All had the typical clinical signs of a SAH, but cranial computer tomography and lumbar puncture excluded this diagnosis. In 82% of these patients the headache was classified according to aetiologically defined symptomatic groups. One patient with headache of vascular aetiology had an angiographically proven, but not ruptured aneurysm. No definite cause for the headache was found in 18% of cases. None of the patients followed up over a period of between 12 months and 6 years developed SAH or any other severe neurological disorder. 9% reported repeat of the headache event. Thunderclap headache seems to be only a descriptive term for patients with symptoms typical of a SAH without signs of bleeding. Thunderclap headache has no diagnostic or prognostic specificity and therefore we recommend use of this term only as a description of the headache characteristic. Thunderclap headache is not a predictor of a future SAH. Cerebral angiography should be restricted to cases with neurological deficits.
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PMID:["Thunder clap headache": an independent form of headache?]. 876 85

Thunderclap headache refers to an excruciating headache of instantaneous onset. It occurs as suddenly and unexpectedly as a "clap of thunder." Patients with thunderclap headache may have normal neurologic examination results and normal computed tomographic brain scans, even if they have serious underlying pathology. This has created confusion regarding nosology and the nature and extent of the diagnostic evaluation, which this article discusses.
Curr Pain Headache Rep 2002 Jun
PMID:Thunderclap headache. 1200 94

Thunderclap headache is a warning symptom that may reveal a number of severe underlying causes, the most frequent being vascular disorders. The search for a cause should be expedient and exhaustive. In the absence of an identified cause, the international headache classification suggests to consider the diagnosis of primary thunderclap headache, which remains controversial.
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PMID:[Thunderclap headache]. 1614 68

We report a case of complicated pansinusitis presenting with thunderclap headache. The patient quickly developed left ophthalmoplegia and imaging demonstrated extension of inflammation from the sphenoid sinus into the sellar region. Thunderclap headache is well known to occur from a variety of intracranial events, but complicated sinusitis presenting this way is seldom described. The patient recovered completely with appropriate treatment.
Headache 2006 Mar
PMID:Thunderclap headache from complicated sinusitis. 1661 75

Thunderclap headache is known to be a presenting feature of subarachnoid hemorrhage, unruptured intracranial aneurysm, cerebral venous thrombosis, cervical artery dissection, spontaneous intracranial hypotension, pituitary apoplexy, retroclival hematoma, and hypertensive reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy. We describe a case of thunderclap headache in the absence of focal, long-tract, or lateralizing neurological findings, as the primary clinical feature of embolic cerebellar infarcts. This case expands the differential diagnosis of thunderclap headache and reinforces the need for magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of such patients, even when neurologic examination, brain computed tomography, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis are normal.
Headache 2006 Mar
PMID:Thunderclap stroke: embolic cerebellar infarcts presenting as thunderclap headache. 1661 76

Thunderclap headache (TCH) is head pain that begins suddenly and is severe at onset. TCH might be the first sign of subarachnoid haemorrhage, unruptured intracranial aneurysm, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, cervical artery dissection, acute hypertensive crisis, spontaneous intracranial hypotension, ischaemic stroke, retroclival haematoma, pituitary apoplexy, third ventricle colloid cyst, and intracranial infection. Primary thunderclap headache is diagnosed when no underlying cause is discovered. Patients with TCH who have evidence of reversible, segmental, cerebral vasoconstriction of circle of Willis arteries and normal or near-normal results on cerebrospinal fluid assessment are thought to have reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome. Herein, we discuss the differential diagnosis of TCH, diagnostic criteria for the primary disorder, and proper assessment of patients. We also offer pathophysiological considerations for primary TCH.
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PMID:Thunderclap headache. 1678 92

Thunderclap headache describes a rare headache syndrome characterized by abrupt-onset severe headache mimicking subarachnoidal bleeding, which has to be excluded by adequate diagnostic procedures such as digital subtraction angiography. The pathophysiology is still not clear but there are an increasing number of reports which describe some kind of vasospasm of the intracranial arteries during the headache episode. Here we describe a patient with a thunderclap headache and a mid-basilar narrowing due to a reversible vasospasm.
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PMID:[Idiopathic thunderclap headache: reversible vasospasm of the Arteria basilaris]. 1702 79

Thunderclap headache (TCH) refers to an excruciating headache of instantaneous onset. Recognition and accurate diagnosis of this headache are important because it can be caused by various serious underlying brain disorders such as subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracranial hematoma, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, cervical artery dissection, ischemic stroke, pituitary apoplexy, acute arterial hypertension, spontaneous intracranial hypotension, third ventricle colloid cyst, and intracranial infections. Patients with TCH who have evidence of reversible, segmental, cerebral vasoconstriction of circle of Willis arteries and normal or near-normal cerebrospinal fluid evaluation are considered to have reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome. Primary TCH is diagnosed when no underlying etiology is identified. In this review, we discuss the differential diagnosis of TCH, outline the characteristics and diagnostic criteria for primary TCH, offer a pathophysiologic hypothesis for primary TCH, and detail the diagnostic evaluation of the patient presenting with TCH.
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PMID:Thunderclap headache: an approach to a neurologic emergency. 1732 59

Thunderclap headache is well known to be a presenting feature of a variety of causal events. Indeed, a primary form is considered in the International Classification of Headache Disorders-II, but such diagnosis must be made only after exclusion of a possible secondary cause. We report a case of late-onset idiopathic aqueductal stenosis presenting with thunderclap headache, in the absence of abnormal neurological findings or indirect signs of raised intracranial pressure. The patient recovered completely after endoscopic third ventriculostomy. This case indicates primary aqueduct stenosis as a possible, never previously reported, cause of thunderclap headache.
Cephalalgia 2007 Oct
PMID:Adult aqueductal stenosis presenting as a thunderclap headache: a case report. 1765 18


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