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Hypnic Headache and Basilar Artery Dolichoectasia
Isabel Moreira1, Teresa Mendonça, José P Monteiro
1*Neurology Department, Serviço de Neurologia, Hospital Santo António, Centro Hospitalar do Porto †Neurology Department, Hospital São João, Porto, Portugal.
Background:
Hypnic headache is regarded by most authors as a primary headache, but in some cases it was considered secondary to hypophysis, brain stem, or posterior fossa lesions.
Case:
We report a case of a 69-year-old woman with a history of a headache that fulfils all International Classification of Headache Disorders-II criteria for hypnic headache, with 2 years of evolution, whose complementary investigation with magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance angiography revealed a dolichoectasia of the basilary artery. She was treated with verapamil with excellent response.
Conclusions:
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first described case of a patient with hypnic headache and a dolichoectasic basilar artery. The relation between these 2 entities is questionable, but we raise some possible explanations for this relationship.
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