%0 Case Reports
%T Short-lasting retroorbital pain attacks as a form of ictal epileptic headache: Case report.
%A Viana PF
%A Hasegawa H
%A Jarosz J
%A Siddiqui A
%A Selway RP
%A Mullatti N
%J Cephalalgia
%V 39
%N 9
%D Aug 2019
%M 30880433
%F 6.075
%R 10.1177/0333102419839792
%X OBJECTIVE: Ictal epileptic headache is a rare form of painful seizure, habitually consisting of migrainous or tension-type headache. We describe a case of a patient with short-lasting, severe retroorbital pain attacks caused by frontal lobe epilepsy.
METHODS: A 25-year-old male patient presented with recurrent attacks of paroxysmal, short-lasting, excruciating left periorbital and facial pain mainly occurring from sleep. After intracranial EEG exploration and resection of a right prefrontal focal cortical dysplasia, long-term seizure and headache remission was obtained.
CONCLUSIONS: Our case extends the clinical and neuroanatomical spectrum of ictal epileptic headache and suggests that long-term remission can be obtained by resective epilepsy surgery. It also reinforces the role of the prefrontal cortex in the pain matrix and pain generation.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite its rarity, ictal epileptic headache should be suspected in selected patients, particularly those with other ictal symptoms and signs, history of epileptic seizures, or neuroimaging abnormalities.