Experimental Studies on Headache

The relation of intracranial pressure to headache has long been a subject of interest, but the available experimental data are limited. The experimental approach to the immediate effect of drainage of cerebrospinal fluid as a headache mechanism has been made by only a few investigators.1In contrast, the headache which so often follows routine lumbar puncture has been studied by many. Such headache has been ascribed by a minority to increased,2and by most to decreased, intracranial pressure.3 The mechanism of the other common headache often linked with altered intracranial pressure, that occurring with tumor of the brain, has had less attention. As Northfield4emphasized, a necessary relation between the headache and the increased intracranial pressure has been proved. With these issues in the foreground, the purposes of this investigation were as follows: To ascertain the mechanism of headache following experimental drainage of cerebrospinal fluid. To