Walsh & Hoyt: Secondary Headache Syndromes

Secondary headache syndromes reflect a wide range of intra- and extracranial pathology. In some situations, the diagnosis of secondary headache is straightforward: if a patient develops a new headache at the same time as a brain tumor, it is reasonable to conclude that the headache is secondary to the tumor. However, it is not uncommon for a patient with a primary headache syndrome (such as migraine) to develop worsening of the primary headache in close temporal relationship to a secondary cause of headache (e.g., head trauma).