title: Post-angiography headaches.
abstract: Headache is a common symptom after cerebral angiography, although it has seldom been studied. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of headache at 24 h and 6 months after angiography and to describe its characteristics. We used a cross-sectional survey of consecutive patients submitted to angiography and determined headache presence and its characterization. Headache occurrence was analyzed against headache history, clinical data, technical and demographical variables. Of 107 procedures studied, 51.3% patients experienced headaches within 24 h. Patients more likely to experience headaches were females or had subarachnoid hemorrhage. Six months post-procedure 48.8% of patients had frequent headaches. These patients had a positive headache history before the procedure, migraine in particular. Half of patients undergoing routine angiography experience benign post-procedure headaches within 24 h (especially women), yet it does not seem to predispose to chronic long-term headaches.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon's Faculty of Medicine, Hospital Santa Maria, Lisbon, Portugal. rgilgouveia@gmail.com
authors.forename: Raquel Santos
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Gil-Gouveia
authors.forename: Rita Fernandes
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.forename: Leonor
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Isabel Pavão
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Martins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000792:Angiography / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019370:Observation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors