ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: In June of 2020, the U.S. DVA and DoD approved a new joint clinical practice guideline for assessing and managing patients with headache. This guideline provides a framework to evaluate, treat, and longitudinally manage the individual needs and preferences of patients with headache. METHODS: In October of 2018, the DVA/DoD Evidence-Based Practice Work Group convened a guideline development panel that included clinical stakeholders and conformed to the National Academy of Medicine's tenets for trustworthy clinical practice guidelines. RESULTS: The guideline panel developed key questions, systematically searched and evaluated the literature, created a 1-page algorithm, and advanced 42 recommendations using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system. CONCLUSION: This synopsis summarizes the key features of the guideline in three areas: prevention, assessing and treating medication overuse headache, and nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic management of headache.
Subject(s)
Headache , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Headache/diagnosis , Headache/therapy , Humans , Primary Health Care , United States , United States Department of Defense , United States Department of Veterans Affairs , VeteransABSTRACT
Enteroviral meningoencephalitis is a rare complication of rituximab therapy that has been described in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. We report the first case of enteroviral meningoencephalitis in a patient receiving rituximab for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A 37-year-old female treated with rituximab for severe rheumatoid arthritis presented with fever, headache, confusion, and tremor. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was unrevealing. Cerebrospinal fluid showed a lymphocytic pleocytosis and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was positive for enterovirus. She was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) for five days and had significant improvement in symptoms. Rituximab is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that induces B-cell depletion and possible hypogammaglobulinemia, putting patients at increased risk for viral infections. We present this case to highlight that patients on rituximab, regardless of the indication for use, are susceptible to severe complications of otherwise typically self-limited viral infections. Furthermore, we describe the potential use of IVIG in treating these patients.
