Successful Treatment of Airplane Headache with Rizatriptan: Case Report

Optimal management of airplane headache (AH) is still unresolved. A female, 53 years, complained of severe short-lasting jabbing pain attacks over the forehead and in the eyebrows, mainly on the left side, that occur during take-off and landing. Neurological, opthalmological, and otolaryngological examinations and brain MRI were normal. It was diagnosed as AH. The patient was recommended to take 10 mg rizatriptan 30 min before the flight. It resulted in a complete absence of headache during the take-off and significant decrease of pain intensity during the plane descending. Based on the flight duration (about 2.5 h) and rizatriptan pharmacokinetics, the patient was recommended to take a second dose of rizatriptan 10 mg 1 h before flight ending. The patient reported a complete absence of pain attacks during the next flights. The effectiveness of AH pain attack prevention is based on the pharmacokinetic properties of the drug, time of pain onset during flight, and the flight duration.

The Plane Headache: A Frequent but Little Known Entity

Airplane headache is a newly diagnosed pathology and can be relatively common given current technologies. In this work we explain the case of a 34 year old woman and a revision of symptoms (hemicranial headache landing and / or takeoff of the plane) and treatments (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) of this pathology.J MEDICINE July 2016; 17 (2) : 118-119

A new type of headache, headache associated with airplane travel: Preliminary diagnostic criteria and possible mechanisms of aetiopathogenesis

Background: In recent years, there has been an increase in the reports indicating a form of headache that occurs during commercial aircraft travel. This headache, called airplane headache by some authors, is believed to be a new type of headache. The headache has very specific characteristics and all of the cases exhibited very stereotypical symptoms. Methods: The headache starts suddenly during the ascent and/or descent of the commercial aircraft. It has a mean duration of 20 minutes, which is usually unilateral and commonly localized to periorbital region. The headache is described to be severe, and has a stabbing or jabbing nature, and generally subsides in a short time. In some cases, an organic cause can be identified whereas in others no organic pathology could be found. Results and conclusion: We described the clinical features of 22 cases who suffered from a headache that occurred during airplane travel. We examined other cases with similar features reported in the literature and proposed preliminary diagnostic criteria for this new form of headache. We also discussed the possible patholophysiological mechanisms that may cause this headache.