HEADACHE OF RECENT-ONSET IN ADULTS - A PROSPECTIVE POPULATION-BASED STUDY

One hundred consecutive adult patients with headache of recent onset w ere prospectively studied. Every patient was examined by craneal CT sc an. Their mean age was 46 years (range 17-82). Neurological examinatio n was normal in 80 patients. Organic headache represented 39% of the e ntire group, and 26% of them had a normal neurological examination. Th e yield of CT scan in patients with headaches and a normal neurologica l examination was 22.5% (95% IC: 14%-33%); of which we encountered the following pathologies: intracranial tumors (13), hydrocephalus (2), a rachnoid cyst (1), toxoplasmic abscess (1) and parenchymal hemorrhage (1). The clinical characteristics of the headache on their own was ins ufficient to rule out the possibility of an intracranial tumor. Neuroi maging studies should be performed in all adult patients with non-vasc ular headache of recent onset, and previously headache-free individual s.