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Updated: May 17, 2026

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Published on: January 17, 2018
Headache in patients with pituitary adenoma: clinical and paraclinical findings
Christoph J Schankin1, Anna K Reifferscheid, Markus Krumbholz
1Department of Neurology, University of Munich Hospital - Grosshadern, Germany. christoph.schankin@med.uni-muenchen.de
Aim:
The aim of this article is to generate hypotheses for the mechanism of pituitary adenoma headache.
Patients And Methods:
Fifty-eight patients with pituitary adenoma were prospectively analysed for prevalence and manifestation of tumour headache. Intrapersonal and neoplasm-associated risk factors were assessed.
Results:
Twenty-four patients (41%) had tumour-attributed headache, seven had migraine-like, 11 tension-type headache-like headache, and three both. Cluster headache-like headache was found once, and two headaches remained unclassified. Tumour-attributed headache was associated with a positive history of headache (p = 0.03; OR 3.4), nicotine abuse (p < 0.01; OR 4.7), intake of acute headache medication (p = 0.04; OR 3.3), and a higher tumour proliferation indicated by a Ki67-labelling index (LI) >3% (p = 0.02; OR 11.0). For patients with migraine-like tumour-attributed headache, risk factors were younger age (p = 0.02), nicotine abuse (p < 0.01; OR 10.9), acute headache treatment (p < 0.01; OR 9.0), and Ki67-LI >3% (p = 0.03; OR 14.1). For tension-type headache-like headache, the main risk factor was a positive history of tension-type headache (p = 0.045; OR 5.6).
Conclusion:
Headache predisposition and local tumour effects might be important for the pathophysiology of pituitary adenoma headache and tumour headache in general.
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