J Korean Child Neurol Soc.  2008 Nov;16(2):175-181.

Brain Magnetic Resonance Angiography in Children with Chronic Headache

• Kim S
• Lee JR
• Yoon CS
• Lee YM
• Lee JS
• Kim HD

Abstract

PURPOSE
Headaches occur frequently in the pediatric population and have a significant impact on their quality of life. Several mechanisms are currently thought to contribute to headache pathogenesis. Our aim was to investigate the association of chronic headache in children and cerebral vascular anomaly by performing brain magnetic resonance angiography (MRA).
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed medical records and MRA of 44 patients with chronic headache who visited the pediatric clinic of Young Dong Severance hospital from January 2006 to April 2008.
RESULTS
The number of enrolled patients was 44. Eight(18.2%) of them showed abnormal brain MRA findings. Abnormal findings included 5 cases of unilateral A1 hypoplasia, 1 case of unilateral vertebral artery hypoplasia, 1 case of unilateral A1 and P1 hypoplasia, 1 case of Moyamoya disease. Among the 44 patients, 21 had complained only headache and 23 had complained other neurological symptoms with headache. The ratio of abnormal MRA between the two groups showed no statistical difference.
CONCLUSION
Vascular anomaly could be a possible pathogenesis and risk factor in chronic headache in children. Further investigation and long term follow up is needed.

Keyword

Headache; Hypoplasia; Magnetic resonance angiography(MRA); Children

MeSH Terms

Brain
Child
Follow-Up Studies
Headache
Headache Disorders
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Magnetics
Magnets
Medical Records
Moyamoya Disease
Quality of Life
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Vertebral Artery