Very young age of onset in trigemino-autonomic cephalalgias - case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Background: Trigemino-autonomic cephalalgias are very rare disorders and even rarer in children and adolescents. We report the onset of paroxysmal hemicrania in a very young girl and reviewed the scientific literature for similar cases.

Findings: We describe the case of a 1.6-year-old girl with left-sided headache attacks fulfilling the criteria of paroxysmal hemicrania including prompt responsiveness to indomethacin. In addition, we detected at least two children for every trigemino-autonomic cephalalgias subtype with an age of under 7 years at the onset of the trigemino-autonomic cephalalgias. Remarkable features were a vast majority of chronic course from onset on and left-sided attacks.

Conclusion: Although very rare, trigemino-autonomic cephalalgias can occur even in very young children under the age of 6 years. This should be known in neuropaediatrics.

Keywords: Cluster headache; SUNCT; children; hemicrania continua; paroxysmal hemicrania.