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Preadolescent indomethacin-responsive headaches without autonomic symptoms
Kenneth Alexis Myers1, Kim A Smyth
1Pediatrics, Division of Neurology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Insights
Preadolescent patients with severe, sudden headaches responded well to indomethacin. This suggests a potential new syndrome of indomethacin-responsive headache in children, even without typical autonomic symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Preadolescent indomethacin-responsive headache is a rare condition with limited research.
- Understanding this entity is crucial for accurate diagnosis and treatment in young patients.
Observation:
- Two preadolescent children presented with frequent, severe, sudden-onset headaches.
- Headaches were paroxysmal, lasting seconds to minutes, with no associated autonomic or migrainous features.
- Extensive work-up excluded secondary causes for the debilitating headaches.
Findings:
- Both patients experienced dramatic clinical improvement with indomethacin treatment.
- This response suggests a specific headache syndrome responsive to indomethacin.
Implications:
- A distinct pediatric syndrome of indomethacin-responsive headache, potentially without autonomic symptoms, may exist.
- Further research is needed to establish optimal dosage and treatment duration for pediatric indomethacin-responsive headache.
- Indomethacin should be considered for severe paroxysmal headaches in children after ruling out secondary causes.
Objective:
A small case series is presented of preadolescent patients with indomethacin-responsive headache.
Background:
Preadolescent indomethacin-responsive headache is a rare and poorly understood entity, with few published cases in the literature.
Results:
Two young children had similar presentations of indomethacin-responsive headaches. Both patients experienced frequent paroxysmal episodes of sudden-onset severe frontal or temporal head pain. The events lasted seconds to minutes in duration, and varied in frequency ranging from multiple episodes per week to multiple events per day. There were no associated autonomic or migrainous symptoms, and a comprehensive work-up revealed no secondary causes for the debilitating headaches. Both patients had dramatic clinical improvement with indomethacin.
Conclusions:
There may be a pediatric syndrome of indomethacin-responsive headache without autonomic symptoms that does not fit well within current diagnostic classifications. More research is needed to determine appropriate dosage and duration of treatment in pediatric indomethacin-responsive headache. Once secondary causes have been ruled out, a trial of indomethacin should be considered in pediatric patients presenting with severe paroxysmal headaches, even if no autonomic symptoms are present.
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