Unexpected Outcomes for Headache Under Evaluation; A Case Series of Four Cases

Abstract

Headache is a common cause of hospital visits and admissions throughout the world. Headaches may be primary or secondary; the primary one being far more common. Although the primary cases by far outnumber the secondary cases the role of the physician is to separate the benign causes from the more sinister ones. Using clinical examination and history alone this can often be a mountain-moving task. However, radiology can help as a problem-solving tool in equivocal cases. This case series highlights the role of radiological imaging in four cases of chronic headaches that were being treated empirically as primary headaches for a long time before neuroimaging revealed a secondary cause.

Keywords

• headache
• chronic
• radiology
• magnetic resonance imaging