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Unusual headache syndromes in children

Michelle Brenner1, Christopher Oakley, Donald W Lewis

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters, Eastern Virginia Medical School, 850 Southampton Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23510, USA.

Current Pain and Headache Reports
|September 27, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric headaches, including common types like migraine, can present unusually in children. This overview explores rare headache syndromes and childhood periodic syndromes that may precede migraine.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Child Neurology
  • Headache Medicine

Background:

  • Headaches are a frequent reason for pediatric medical visits and neurology referrals.
  • Common diagnoses include migraine, tension-type, and chronic daily headaches.
  • Recent literature often focuses on these common headache types in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide an overview of unusual headache syndromes in children and adolescents.
  • To highlight primary headache disorders, including migraine with aura variants.
  • To discuss periodic syndromes of childhood as potential migraine precursors.

Main Methods:

  • Review of medical literature on pediatric headaches.
  • Focus on less common headache presentations in children.
  • Categorization based on the International Headache Society classification.

Main Results:

  • Children experience unique headache syndromes, often as primary headaches.
  • Migraine with aura, including basilar-type and hemiplegic migraine, is notable.
  • Periodic syndromes of childhood present diverse symptoms (e.g., ataxia, vertigo) and may lack headache.

Conclusions:

  • Unusual headache syndromes are prevalent in pediatric neurology.
  • Periodic syndromes of childhood represent a distinct and intriguing category.
  • Understanding these varied presentations is crucial for accurate diagnosis and management in children.

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