Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0039483 (giant cell arteritis)
 3,204 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Temporal arteritis is a form of vasculitis that involves the large- and medium-diameter arteries and leads to progressive headache. Symptoms may be accompanied by vision disorder, subfebrile temperature, fatigue, lack of appetite, weight loss, sweating, and joint pains. While cortisone therapy reduces the symptoms, its effects in terms of improving quality of life are limited. We opted to benefit from the effects of acupuncture to reduce symptoms and increase quality of life in a case of temporal arteritis, a chronic disease. A 75-year-old woman presented with pain on both sides of the head. The pain occurred in the form of agonizing attacks 2-3 times a week. Accompanying neck pain was present, together with continuous lethargy and fatigue. Physical examination revealed decreased cutaneous elasticity and muscle mass, and a depressive mood state was present. The patient was first administered six sessions of acupuncture therapy directed toward the migraine etiology. When no response was achieved, we investigated temporal and parietal region points associated with headache in the literature. Points GB1,8,18, ST8, SI19, and BL8 were added to the treatment. The pain attacks and their frequency decreased following acupuncture therapy. In conclusion, while cortisone is the first preference in the treatment of temporal arteritis, we think that acupuncture aimed at the cause of accompanying symptoms can also be useful.
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PMID:The Acupuncture Therapeutic Approach in Temporal Arteritis Vasculitis: A Case Report. 2943 72

Although secondary headaches due to e.g. temporal arteritis or a brain tumor are common among the elderly, primary headache disorders also occur in this age group, albeit less frequently than in younger individuals. A different presentation in the older age groups often makes a diagnosis difficult. Some headache syndromes, such as hypnic headache, are typical for the elderly. Furthermore, age-related physiologic changes, co-morbidities and contra indications require appropriate and targeted treatment in the elderly. Although treatments for the most common primary headaches are available, many limitations hamper their use in this group. For many headaches syndromes randomized controlled treatment trials in elderly are not available. In this article we review the clinical aspects of common primary headaches and medication overuse headache in the elderly and their treatments, with emphasis on age-specific problems. Relevance for patients: Primary headache syndromes in older patients ask for specific treatment considerations due to comorbidity, polypharmacy and an increased risk of side effects. Clinically, the headaches can be different and atypical. Results from clinical trials cannot be generalized to the elderly because these groups usually are not included in studies. In migraine, non-pharmacologic treatment should be considered, with depression and cerebrovascular disease as major comorbidities. Tension type headache, being the most common headache presentation in elderly, also includes a relatively large proportion of patients with a secondary headache warranting further testing. Trigeminal autonomous cephalalgias are rare, and can present with pseudo dementia. Medication overuse and medication-induced headaches are relatively common, for which patient education, ceasing drugs and withdrawal from caffeine containing substances are pivotal. Furthermore, hypnic headache, exploding head syndrome and benign thunderclap headache are specific for this patient group and require specific treatment.
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PMID:Primary headache syndromes in the elderly: epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment. 3087 60


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