Expert Opinion
A Left Frontal Secretory Meningioma Can Mimic Transformed
Migraine With and Without Aura
Randolph W. Evans, MD; Josefine S. Timm, MD; David S. Baskin, MD, FACS, FAANS
Key words: secretory meningioma, transformed migraine, chronic migraine, migraine with aura, brain tumors, neuroimaging
(Headache 2015;55:849-852)
Of all the migraine mimics,
1
some patients are
especially anxious about the possibility of brain
tumors as the cause of their chronic migraines.
2
Is
there reason for concern?
CASE HISTORY
This is a 47-year-old female with headaches that
had been occurring daily for 2 months and prior twice
a week for 1 year. She described a bifrontal throbbing
with an intensity of 2-4/10 associated with nausea at
times, light and noise sensitivity, but no vomiting. She
would take acetaminophen, and the headache would
last a couple of hours. For the prior 3 months, every
few days, she would see the edge of a broken glass
flashing on and off in the right field of vision, which
would be small, expand, and then break up.The visual
changes would last about 30 minutes. They began
before the headache and resolved as the headache
was starting. Stress was a trigger for the headaches.
She had a prior history of a different type of
headache since her teens that had occurred once a
week described as a pressure on the sides, as well as
the occipital and bifrontal areas with an intensity of
2/10. (The headaches were described in a prior office
visit 2 years earlier when seen for myofascial neck
pain by one of the coauthors, R.W.E.) There was no
nausea/vomiting, light or noise sensitivity, or aura. She
took acetaminophen with relief in 1-2 hours.
There was a past medical history of hypothyroid-
ism, hyperlipidemia, and depression (on fluoxetine
40 mg daily for several years). Neurological exam was
normal.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain
showed a 3 × 2.5 × 2.5 cm left medial anterior inferior
frontal extra-axial dural-based homogenously
enhancing mass with vasogenic edema, marked mass
effect on the left frontal horn, and anterior corpus
callosum, and 16-mm subfalcine herniation from left
to right (Figs. 1 and 2). When completely resected 3
weeks later, the pathology was a secretory menin-
gioma. Postoperative MRI scans showed no residual
tumor.
From the Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medi-
cine, Houston, TX, USA (R.W. Evans); Neuroradiology,
Houston, TX, USA (J.S. Timm). Neurosurgery Residency
Training Program, Department of Neurological Surgery, Meth-
odist Neurological Institute, Houston, TX (D.S. Baskin);
Neurological Surgery, Weill Medical College, Cornell
University, New York, NY (D.S. Baskin); Houston Methodist
Kenneth R. Peak Brain & Pituitary Tumor Treatment Center
(www.houstonmethodist.org/peakcenter), Houston, TX, USA
(D.S. Baskin). Neuroradiology.
Address all correspondence to R.W. Evans, Department of
Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1200 Binz #1370,
Houston, TX 77004, USA, email: revansmd@gmail.com.
Accepted for publication March 23, 2015.
ISSN 0017-8748
doi: 10.1111/head.12580
Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Headache
© 2015 American Headache Society
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