EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON HEADACHE

Abstract

The purpose of this communication is to present evidence concerning one mechanism of headache. The data demonstrate how under the given experimental conditions headache is produced and indicate the sites of origin of the nerve impulses which are interpreted as pain. It is generally agreed that most of the intracranial contents, including the brain substance and large portions of the meninges, are not the sites of origin of painful sensations. 1 However, the more recent reports of many neurosurgeons, including Craig, 1a Elsberg, 1e Fay, 1d Foerster 2 and Penfield, 1g indicate that the large dural vessels, notably the arteries and possibly the dura itself in the neighborhood of these vessels, are regions from which a sensation of pain can be produced by adequate stimulation. To these Penfield 1g added the venous sinuses of the dura. Fay 1d has initiated painful sensations by stimulation of the larger arteries of the