[Headache in Horton's disease: the clinical picture and physiopathogenetic mechanisms]

G Carmenini1, M Soldini, S Martusciello

  • 1Istituto di I Clinica medica, Università La Sapienza, Roma.

Headache is no doubt one of the most frequent symptom in Horton's disease. Nevertheless it has neither received a clear definition nor it has been studied in its pathogenetic aspects. The authors report 32 cases of Horton's disease in acute phase with arteritic localizations in different areas. Among them 24 (75%) had headache which appeared with different features from case to case. The authors identify 3 different kinds of headache, all recognizable in the secondary medical forms: epicritic headache (the most frequent), deep headache and generic headache (the rarest). The characters and the pathogenetic mechanisms of each form are also described.

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