Clinical features of post-ictal headache in patients with epilepsy and the risk factors / 中国实用内科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the clinical characteristics of post ictal headache (PIH) and clinical risk factors associated with the occurrence of PIH in patients with localization related epilepsy.Methods The subjects were 47 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE),21 patients with occipital lobe epilepsy (OLE),and 29 patients with frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE).The subjects were directly asked whether headaches occurred just after seizures and its characteristics.Results The characteristics of PIH were:throbbing quality,which was exacerbated by coughing,vomiting,bending,and sudden head movement,accompanied by photophobia,phonophobia,and relieved by sleep.The incidence of PIH was 21 3% for TLE,61 9% for OLE,and 41 4% for FLE.The risk of PIH was significantly higher for OLE than for TLE or FLE,and for patients with generalized tonic clonic seizures.Younger onset age of epilepsy was also a risk factor for PIH.Conclusions PIH possess some characteristics similar to migraine.The occurrence of PIH may be related to the region of epileptic focus and the region of the spread of epileptic discharges.