- Published on
Symptoms and Signs – Differential Diagnosis of Headache
Acute/subacute causes (likely to present in A&E)
Head injury
Meningitis/encephalitis
Subarachnoid haemorrhage, intracranial haemorrhage, cerebral venous thrombosis
Carotid/vertebral artery dissection
Acute angle closure glaucoma
Giant cell arteritis
Pituitary apoplexy
Other causes: increased BP, drugs (e.g. GTN, Ca channel antagonists), infections (bacterial, viral illnesses etc.), electrolyte imbalances (e.g. hyponatraemia),
hyperviscosity syndromes (e.g. polycythaemia)
Chronic/recurrent
increased lntracranial pressure (e.g. space occupying lesion, e.g. tumour/abscess,
hydrocephalus, benign intracranial hypertension) and reduced intracranial pressure
(e.g. post lumbar puncture)
Migraine
Migrainous neuralgia
Tension headache, rebound headache (on stopping analgesics)
Sinusitis
Other causes: cervicogenic (referred from cervical spondylosis), hypnic headache, meningeal infiltration (e.g. malignancy, sarcoidosis), refractive errors, Paget's disease of bone, acromegaly, antiphospholipid syndrome
Acute/subacute causes (likely to present in A&E)
Head injury
Meningitis/encephalitis
Subarachnoid haemorrhage, intracranial haemorrhage, cerebral venous thrombosis
Carotid/vertebral artery dissection
Acute angle closure glaucoma
Giant cell arteritis
Pituitary apoplexy
Other causes: increased BP, drugs (e.g. GTN, Ca channel antagonists), infections (bacterial, viral illnesses etc.), electrolyte imbalances (e.g. hyponatraemia),
hyperviscosity syndromes (e.g. polycythaemia)
Chronic/recurrent
increased lntracranial pressure (e.g. space occupying lesion, e.g. tumour/abscess,
hydrocephalus, benign intracranial hypertension) and reduced intracranial pressure
(e.g. post lumbar puncture)
Migraine
Migrainous neuralgia
Tension headache, rebound headache (on stopping analgesics)
Sinusitis
Other causes: cervicogenic (referred from cervical spondylosis), hypnic headache, meningeal infiltration (e.g. malignancy, sarcoidosis), refractive errors, Paget's disease of bone, acromegaly, antiphospholipid syndrome
0 Comments
