Child health · UKMLA & AKT
Tension headache
A free high-yield preview for the UKMLA Applied Knowledge Test, covering how to recognise this condition. The full SA Note notes add investigations, management and complications, with practice questions on this topic.
Key high-yield points
- TTH is a clinical diagnosis of exclusion - red flags must be ruled out first. The exam question highlights that a child with headache, visual field defect, and growth failure points away from TTH.
- Thunderclap onset - suspect subarachnoid haemorrhage
- Fever, neck stiffness, photophobia - suspect meningitis/encephalitis
- New focal neurological signs, papilloedema - suspect raised ICP or space-occupying lesion
- Headache worsened by Valsalva - suspect raised ICP
- Morning headache worsening on waking - suspect raised ICP
- Headache + visual field defect + growth failure in a child - consider craniopharyngioma or pituitary lesion
Bitemporal superior quadrantanopia + short stature + headache = pituitary adenoma. Craniopharyngioma gives bitemporal INFERIOR quadrantanopia. Do not confuse the two.
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