title: Childhood headaches and brain magnetic resonance imaging findings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Headaches are common in children and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are widely used in everyday clinical practice because of increasing demands by parents.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine headache types and to evaluate the frequency and clinical significance of brain MRI abnormalities in children with headache.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 449 children (261 male and 188 female with a mean age of 11.16 ± 3.22 years) with headache were included into the study. The criteria defined by International Headache Society were used to classify the headache types.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The causes of headache were migraine in 247 (55.0%), tension-type in 133 (29.6%), secondary in 48 (10.7%), and unspecified headaches in 21 (4.7%) patients. Overall, 324 (72.2%) patients underwent cerebral MRI, which revealed abnormalities in 68 (21.0%) patients. Two (0.6%) patients had cerebral MRI abnormalities relevant to headache, including tumor and hydrocephalus each 1 (0.3%). Twenty-nine (8.9%) patients had incidental cerebral MRI abnormalities including 14 (4.3%) white-matter hyperintensities, 4 (1.2%) old infarcts, 3 (0.9%) Chiari malformations, arachnoid cysts and demyelinating lesions each 2 (0.6%), and subdural hygroma, fibrous dysplasia, pineal cyst and perivascular widening, each 1 (0.3%). Remaining 36 (11.1%) patients had extra-cerebral MRI abnormalities including 34 (10.5%) sinus disease, and 2 (0.6%) adenoid vegetation. Indications for brain MRI were atypical headache pattern or presence of neurologic abnormalities in 59 (18.2%) patients and parents' concerns in 265 (81.8%) patients. The rates of abnormal MRI findings were similar between these 2 groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The most frequent cause of headache in children is migraine. Despite the high rate of imaging abnormalities, the yield of brain MRI is not contributory to the diagnostic and therapeutic approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital, Izmir, Turkey. Electronic address: drunsalyilmaz@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ünsal
authors.initials: Ü
authors.lastname: Yılmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Çeleğen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Dokuz Eylul University Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tuba Sevim
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Yılmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Alsancak MRI Center, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Müge
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gürçınar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Aycan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ünalp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male
keywords: Children; Headache; Magnetic resonance imaging; Migraine; Tension-type