No abstract

Erenumab is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) approved for the preventive treatment of migraine. While preclinical studies on calcitonin gene‐related peptide mAbs did not identify any reproductive toxicity, pregnant and breastfeeding women were excluded from the pivotal human studies, and therefore the safety of calcitonin gene‐related peptide medications in this population must be studied. So far, postmarketing data of accidental exposures have not brought to light any specific toxicities. Three women treated with erenumab in our series conceived while exposed to the drug. All had previous successful pregnancies, were on erenumab for more than 6 months, and had ≥80% reduction in headache frequency. The one who stopped erenumab only 1 month before conceiving had a spontaneous abortion during the first trimester due to a gestational trophoblastic neoplasia and has since conceived with an uneventful gestation. The other two women stopped treatment during the first trimester, and both pregnancies went to term with no complications. All babies have shown normal development. No plausible explanation relates the mechanism of action of erenumab and the serious complication that occurred in one patient. Continuous follow‐up and reporting of all exposures are encouraged to gather safety data on pregnant and nursing women and on the development of the newborns. So far, immediately stopping the drug is advised and may contribute to decreasing the potential risks.

Background In 2013, one of the authors described a 36-year-old female with orthostatic headache without documented intracranial hypotension or evidence of cerebrospinal fluid leak, despite extensive workup. Headache was unresponsive to conservative treatment since 2010, showed only transient benefit after repeated epidural blood patches while vitamin A supplementation resulted in progressive improvement. Case Since 2013, the patient followed a relapsing and remitting course yet relapse control became difficult after a drug induced liver injury required vitamin A discontinuation in 2017, when her headache became chronic. Greater occipital nerve blocks provided pain relief as alternative but were stopped due to the pandemic and her latest severe relapse, in late 2020, required not only restarting anaesthetic blocks and aggressive medication management, but also reassessing and treating comorbidities (obstructive sleep apnoea and major depressive disorder) with modest benefit. Conclusion Orthostatic headache without intracranial hypotension is rare, with only 28 cases reported so far, all treated empirically and all treatment options revealing to be mostly ineffective. Vitamin A anecdotally appeared to be useful in our case but had to be stopped for severe side effects, so unfavourable long-term prognosis, in ours and 2/3 of the reported cases, seems to be the rule in this intriguing entity.

A síndrome de encefalopatia posterior reversível caracteriza-se por uma combinação de encefalopatia, alterações do estado de consciência, crises epilépticas, alterações visuais, cefaleia e/ou sinais focais. Dada a heterogeneidade clínico-imagiológica, não há critérios de diagnóstico estabelecidos.Apresentamos dois casos clínicos ilustrativos da sua heterogeneidade clínica e prognóstica: o primeiro caracterizado por cefaleia, encefalopatia, alterações visuais e descargas epileptiformes no EEG, com recuperação completa; e o segundo caracterizado por cefaleia, encefalopatia, sinais focais e episódios adicionais de alteração transitória do estado de consciência, sem alterações electroencefalográficas, com sequelas e alterações imagiológicas permanentes. Em ambos os casos a tomografia computorizada crânio-encefálica tinha alterações sugestivas, mas foi necessária investigação adicional para excluir diagnósticos alternativos.Esta síndrome pode surgir na prática clínica em múltiplos contextos, sendo essencial a familiarização com esta entidade para o reconhecimento e instituição de terapêutica precocemente, para melhorar o prognóstico destes doentes.