A case of painful ophthalmoplegia due to idiopathic granulomatous involvement of the superior orbital fissure (Tolosa-Hunt syndrome) is described. The clinical features of recurrent pain, ocular motor nerve palsies and proptosis correlated well with the eventual demonstration of an enhancing mass in the region of the cavernous sinus. Removal of the lesion led to a resolution of the clinical picture and demonstration of a non-caseating granuloma with no other detectable cause. The original observation of Tolosa was thus re-affirmed.

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Twenty-one patients experienced headache related to sexual activity. Two varieties of headache could be distinguished from the clinical histories. The first, developing as sexual excitement mount, had the characteristics of muscle contraction headache. The second, severe, throbbing or 'explosive' in character, occurring at the time of orgasm, was presumably of vascular origin associated with a hyperdynamic circulatory state. Two of the patients with the latter type of headache had each experienced episodes of cerebral vascular insufficiency on one occasion which subsequently resolved. A third patient in this category had a past history of drop attacks. No evidence of any structural lesion was obtained on clinical examination or investigation, including cerebral angiography in seven patients. Eighteen patients have been followed up for periods of two to seven years without any serious intracranial disorder becoming apparent. While the possibility of intracranial vascular or other lesions must always be borne in mind, there appears to be a syndrome of headache associated with sexual excitement where no organic change can be demonstrated, analogous to benign cough headache and benign exertional headache.

The effectiveness of five different serotonin antagonists in the prevention of migraine was compared in 290 patients followed for periods of up to three years. Methysergide 3-6 mg. daily was most effective, with 20% of treated patients becoming headache-free and a further 44% remaining more than “half improved.” The corresponding figures for BC105 were 10% and 40%, respectively.

The results with BC105 were significantly better than those with placebo (P<0·02). The total improvement rates with methdilazine (45%) and cyproheptadine (43%) were better than those with placebo (32%) but did not achieve statistical significance. A new preparation, methylergol carbamide maleate, which is chemically related to methysergide, did not give better results than placebo.

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Momentary sensations of impending loss of consciousness may occur, particularly when a person is relaxed, without any obvious cardiac, cerebral vascular, or epileptic basis. These episodes may be a quasiepileptic phenomenon such as déjà vu and night starts and seem to have a benign prognosis.

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Previous reports have suggested that platelet level of serotonin in chronic tension headache (CTH) is lower than in normal control subjects, and that there is continuous activation of platelets both in migraine and in CTH. In this study we compared platelet serotonin concentration in 95 patients with CTH, 166 patients with migraine and 35 normal control subjects. Mean platelet serotonin (ng/10(9) platelets) was 310 for the CTH group, 384 during migraine headache, 474 for normal control subjects and 514 in headache-free migrainous patients. There was significant statistical difference of values between CTH patients and those of normal control subjects as well as headache-free migrainous patients, but not of those of migrainous patients during headache. It is suggested that CTH is a low serotonin syndrome, representing one end of the spectrum of idiopathic headache, the other end being represented by migraine.

Facial flushing and sweating were investigated in five patients who complained of the sudden onset of unilateral facial flushing in hot weather or when exercising vigorously. One patient probably suffered a brainstem infarct at the time that the unilateral flush was first noticed, and was left with a subtle Horner's syndrome on the side opposite to the flush. The other four had no other neurological symptoms and no ocular signs of Horner's syndrome. Thermal and emotional flushing and sweating were found to be impaired on the non-flushing side of the forehead in all five patients whereas gustatory sweating and flushing were increased on that side in four of the five patients, a combination of signs indicating a deficit of the second sympathetic neuron at the level of the third thoracic segment. CT and MRI of this area failed to disclose a structural lesion but latency from stimulation of the motor cortex and thoracic spinal cord to the third intercostal muscle was delayed on the non-flushing side in one patient. The complaint of unilateral flushing and sweating was abolished in one patient by ipsilateral stellate ganglionectomy. The unilateral facial flushing and sweating induced by heat in all five patients was thus a normal or excessive response by an intact sympathetic pathway, the other side failing to respond because of a sympathetic deficit. The onset in the four cases of peripheral origin followed strenuous exertion, which suggested that an anterior radicular artery may have become occluded at the third thoracic segment during torsion of the thoracic spine.

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The headache histories obtained from clinical interviews of 600 patients were analysed by computer to see whether patients could be separated systematically into clinical categories and to see whether sets of symptoms commonly reported together differed in distribution among the categories. The computer classification procedure assigned 537 patients to the same category as their clinical diagnosis, the majority of discrepancies between clinical and computer classifications involving common migraine, tension-vascular and tension headache. Cluster headache emerged as a clearly-definable syndrome, and neurological symptoms during headache were most prevalent in the classical migraine group. However, the classical migraine, common migraine, tension-vascular and tension headache categories differed in terms of the number, rather than the nature, of common migraine features. Whether the two extremes of this migraine-tension headache spectrum are different disorders can be determined only by studies of their pathophysiology.

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The development of a facial flush during thermocoagulation of the Gasserian ganglion was monitored in 16 patients with pulse recording techniques and in a further 17 patients with thermography. There was a close association between the development of the facial flush in the distribution of one or more divisions of the trigeminal nerve and the subsequent demonstration of postoperative analgesia. In regions where significant changes took place, vascular pulsations increased 25-233% (mean 96%) and facial temperature rose 0.5-2.0 degrees C. The response persisted for up to an hour postoperatively, and was not diminished in patients with pre-operative analgesia from a previous procedure. Possible mechanisms for the facial flush, including stimulation of an active vasodilator system, the antidromic release of vasoactive substances from trigeminal nerve terminals and the release of tonic vasoconstriction are discussed. A practical application of the pulse recording technique used in the present investigation would be to monitor the distribution of vasodilatation at operation to avoid unwanted first division sensory loss.

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A syndrome of unilateral upper nuchal or occipital pain, with or without numbness in these areas, accompanied by simultaneous ipsilateral numbness of the tongue is explicable by compression of the second cervical root in the atlantoaxial space on sharp rotation of the neck. Afferents fibres from the lingual nerve travelling via the hypoglossal nerve to the second cervical root provide a plausible anatomical explanation for compression of that root causing numbness of half the tongue.