Preictal headache in partial epilepsy

Abstract

The authors studied clinical characteristics in 11 patients with intractable focal epilepsy and preictal headache (PIHA) using a standardized interview. Headache was frontotemporal, ipsilateral to the focus, in nine patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and contralateral in one with TLE and in one with frontal seizures. Migrainous features were found in four. After surgery, all seven seizure-free patients and two with rare seizures were free of PIHA. It may be a useful lateralizing sign in patients with TLE.