Epicrania fugax: an ultrabrief paroxysmal epicranial pain.
Ten patients (one man and nine women, mean age 48.8 +/- 20.1) presented with a stereotypical and undescribed type of head pain. They complained of strictly unilateral, shooting pain paroxysms starting in a focal area of the posterior parietal or temporal region and rapidly spreading forward to the ipsilateral eye (n = 7) or nose (n = 3) along a lineal or zigzag trajectory, the complete sequence lasting 1-10 s. Two patients had ipsilateral lacrimation, and one had rhinorrhoea at the end of the attacks. The attacks could be either spontaneous or triggered by touch on the stemming area (n = 2), which could otherwise remain tender or slightly painful between the paroxysms (n = 5). The frequency ranged from two attacks per month to countless attacks per day, and the temporal pattern was either remitting (n = 5) or chronic (n = 5). This clinical picture might be a variant of an established headache or represent a novel syndrome.
Pareja
J A
JA
Department of Neurology, Fundación Hospital Alcorcón and Rey Juan Carlos University, Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain. japareja@fhalcorcon.es
Cuadrado
M L
ML
Fernández-de-las-Peñas
C
C
Caminero
A B
AB
Nieto
C
C
Sánchez
C
C
Sols
M
M
Porta-Etessam
J
J
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology