Treatment of Persistent Headache After Normalization of CSF Pressure.

Objective: Headache is the most common symptom of intracranial hypertension and hypotension and may not remit after normalization of intracranial pressure. This article reviews the clinical presentation, mechanism, differential diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and monitoring of persistent headache after normalization of intracranial pressure in the setting of idiopathic intracranial hypertension and spontaneous intracranial hypotension.

Latest developments: Erenumab, a monoclonal antibody to the calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor, was shown to reduce headache frequency in the first-ever prospective study of headache treatment in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension in ocular remission. Similar avenues remain to be explored for spontaneous intracranial hypotension even though it has been shown that some patients continue with headache despite radiographic resolution of CSF leaks.

Essential points: Headache is the most common symptom to herald an intracranial pressure disturbance and may not resolve despite normalization of pressure. Neurologists must be aware that persistent headache does not automatically imply abnormal intracranial pressure in patients with previous disorders of CSF dynamics and informed of the possible alternative headache etiologies in these populations.