Abdominal Migraine

The kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism in abdominal migraine in children - A therapeutic potential?

BACKGROUND

Abdominal migraine (AM) is a clinical diagnosis specified by Rome IV and ICHD III as a functional gastrointestinal disease (FGID) and a migraine associated syndrome, respectively. Abdominal migraine in childhood and adolescence may continue with migraine headaches in adulthood. This disease is undiagnosed and undertreated, and thus far the FDA has not approved any drug for AM treatment. It was shown that changes in the kynurenine (KYN) pathway of tryptophan (TRP) metabolism played an important role in the pathogenesis and treatment of FIGDs and associated mood disorders. Changes in the KYN pathway were shown in migraine and therefore it may be involved in AM pathogenesis.

FINDINGS

Abdominal migraine reflects an impairment in the communication within the gut-brain axis. Treatment approaches in AM are based on the experience of physicians, presenting personal rather than evidence-based practice, including efficacy of some drugs in adult migraine. Non-pharmacological treatment of AM is aimed at preventing or ameliorating AM triggers and is based on the STRESS mnemonic. Metabolic treatments with riboflavin and coenzyme Q10 were effective in several cases of pediatric migraine, but in general, results on metabolic treatment in migraine in children are scarce and nonconclusive. Modulations within the KYN pathway of TRP metabolism induced by changes in TRP content in the diet, may ameliorate FGIDs and support their pharmacological treatment. Pharmacological manipulations of brain KYNs in animals have brought promising results for clinical applications. Obese children show a higher headache prevalence and may be especially predisposed to AM, and KYN metabolites showed an alternated distribution in obese individuals as compared with their normal-weight counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, controlled placebo-based clinical trials with dietary manipulation to adjust the amount of the product of the KYN pathway of TRP metabolism are justified in children and adolescents with AM, especially those with coexisting obesity. Further preclinical studies are needed to establish details of these trials.

Diagnoses of Exclusion in the Workup of Abdominal Complaints

Abdominal pain is a common complaint in the emergency department, comprising 8.8% of all visits. Despite advances in medicine and imaging, 20% to 30% of patients still leave the department without a definitive diagnosis, whichhis can be both distressing for patients and unsatisfying for providers. Diagnoses of exclusion can be perilous, and their application should be carefully considered in order to not overlook more emergent complaints. However, a working knowledge of diagnoses of exclusion can guide therapeutics and specialty referrals that can ultimately provide answers and relief to a patient population often at odds with available information and expectations.

Management of Childhood Headache in the Emergency Department. Review of the Literature

Headache is the third cause of visits to pediatric emergency departments (ED). According to a systematic review, headaches in children evaluated in the ED are primarily due to benign conditions that tend to be self-limiting or resolve with appropriate pharmacological treatment. The more frequent causes of non-traumatic headache in the ED include primitive headaches (21.8–66.3%) and benign secondary headaches (35.4–63.2%), whereas potentially life-threatening (LT) secondary headaches are less frequent (2–15.3%). Worrying conditions include brain tumors, central nervous system infections, dysfunction of ventriculo-peritoneal shunts, hydrocephalus, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and intracranial hemorrhage. In the emergency setting, the main goal is to intercept potentially LT conditions that require immediate medical attention. The initial assessment begins with an in-depth, appropriate history followed by a complete, oriented physical and neurological examination. The literature describes the following red flags requiring further investigation (for example neuroimaging) for recognition of LT conditions: abnormal neurological examination; atypical presentation of headaches: subjective vertigo, intractable vomiting or headaches that wake the child from sleep; recent and progressive severe headache (<6 months); age of the child <6 years; no family history for migraine or primary headache; occipital headache; change of headache; new headache in an immunocompromised child; first or worst headache; symptoms and signs of systemic disease; headaches associated with changes in mental status or focal neurological disorders. In evaluating a child or adolescent who is being treated for headache, physicians should consider using appropriate diagnostic tests. Diagnostic tests are varied, and include routine laboratory analysis, cerebral spinal fluid examination, electroencephalography, and computerized tomography or magnetic resonance neuroimaging. The management of headache in the ED depends on the patient's general conditions and the presumable cause of the headache. There are few randomized, controlled trials on pharmacological treatment of headache in the pediatric population. Only ibuprofen and sumatriptan are significantly more effective than placebo in determining headache relief.

Do pre-school episodic syndromes predict migraine in primary school children? A retrospective cohort study on health care data

OBJECTIVE

To assess the relative risk, predictive value and population attributable risk fraction of pre-school episodic syndromes for later migraine in primary school age children.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study used health insurance data on 55,035 children born in 2006 with no diagnosis of migraine up to the age of 5 years. The relative risk, probability and population attributable risk fraction of migraine prompting a physician visit at the age of 6-10 years in children with episodic syndromes included in the International Classification of Headache Disorders (benign paroxysmal torticollis, benign paroxysmal vertigo, cyclic vomiting syndrome, recurrent abdominal symptoms and abdominal migraine) and those not included in the International Classification of Headache Disorders (pavor nocturnus, somnabulism and bruxism) diagnosed up to the age of 5 years were determined.

RESULTS

The period prevalence of individual episodic syndromes ranged between 0.01% and 1.40%. For episodic syndromes included in the International Classification of Headache Disorders (recurrent abdominal symptoms and abdominal migraine) and for the episodic syndromes not included in the International Classification of Headache Disorders (somnambulism), the risk for later migraine was increased by factors of 2.08, 21.87 and 3.93, respectively. The proportion of risk for migraine in primary school children explained by any episodic syndromes included in the International Classification of Headache Disorders was 2.18% and for any episodic syndromes not included in the International Classification of Headache Disorders it was 0.59%.

CONCLUSION

Several pre-school episodic syndromes are risk factors for migraine in primary school age children. The fraction of migraine in primary school age children explained by prior episodic syndromes, however, is below 3%. A probability to develop primary school age migraine above 50% was only observed for abdominal migraine.