Secondary headaches

Abstract

Introduction. Secondary headaches can result from many dangerous and life-threatening diseases. It may occur in the course of, among others, brain tumour, intracranial haematoma, meningitis, neuroborreliosis, systemic vasculitis, an aneurysm of the dissecting carotid artery, etc. The basis for the differentiation of these ailments are prerequisites for appropriate rescue measures at the site of the incident as well as for appropriate specialist treatment.
The aim of the study. The aim of the study was to present characteristics of secondary headaches.
Selection of material. The search was conducted in the Scopus database using the terms secondary headache, diagnostics 2004-
2018. The literature found in the Google Scholar database was analysed for the highest number of citations. The literature selected
in this way was used as the material for this study.
Conclusions. The most dangerous factors associated with secondary headaches include head or neck vascular diseases, which
include atherosclerosis of the neck arteries, hypertension and strokes. Proper initial diagnosis determines the therapeutic success,
e.g. in ischemic strokes, it is important to use the so-called therapeutic window (for the used rt-PA - time up to 4 and a half
hours from the first symptoms or mechanical thrombectomy - time up to 6 hours).