ABSTRACT
Headache is a very common clinical manifestation of both reduced and increased intracranial pressure. Any disruption of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) production, flow, or absorption may lead to alterations in intracranial pressure and headache. This chapter considers the causes of intracranial hypotension and the headache disorders associated with reduced intracranial pressure. It then discusses the headaches of increased intracranial pressure associated with space-occupying structural lesions. The chapter also discusses the secondary forms and exertional and cough headache as well as the primary disorders that are in their differential diagnosis. Lumbar puncture typically relieves headache in idiopathic intracranial hypertension; however, a postlumbar puncture headache occasionally occurs. The International Headache Society (IHS) classifies most of the conditions in a group referred to as 'headache associated with nonvascuiar intracranial disorder'. Radioisotope cisternography or ionic myelography is done to identify CSF leaks that may have resulted from a dural tear.
