Headache in Calcified Neurocysticercosis: Emerging Insights into an Inflammation-Driven Phenotype.
- 1Research Center, Universidad Espíritu Santo-Ecuador, Samborondón, Ecuador.
Abstract
Calcified neurocysticercosis (NCC), traditionally considered an inert marker of past infection, is increasingly recognized as a clinically meaningful condition associated with migraine-like headaches. Evidence from population-based cohorts, clinical series, and imaging studies consistently shows that individuals with calcified NCC have a higher prevalence and severity of headache than those without lesions. Prospective neuroimaging demonstrates that intermittent perilesional inflammation, including edema and blood-brain barrier disruption, can activate migraine-generating pathways, with calcitonin gene-related peptide-mediated trigeminovascular sensitization emerging as a key mechanism. These findings challenge the assumption that calcified lesions are clinically irrelevant and instead, support the concept of a distinct inflammation-driven headache phenotype. Recognizing this entity has important implications for diagnosis, counseling, and therapeutic decision-making, particularly in endemic regions where calcifications are common and often dismissed as incidental. Calcified NCC also provides a unique human model for understanding how focal neuroinflammation shapes headache susceptibility.
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BibTeX
@article{brutto2026headache,
title = {{Headache in Calcified Neurocysticercosis: Emerging Insights into an Inflammation-Driven Phenotype.}},
author = {Oscar H Del Brutto},
journal = {The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.4269/ajtmh.26-0374},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901156},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Headache in Calcified Neurocysticercosis: Emerging Insights into an Inflammation-Driven Phenotype.
AU - Oscar H Del Brutto
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
JO - The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
DO - 10.4269/ajtmh.26-0374
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901156
AB - Calcified neurocysticercosis (NCC), traditionally considered an inert marker of past infection, is increasingly recognized as a clinically meaningful condition associated with migraine-like headaches. Evidence from population-based cohorts, clinical series, and imaging studies consistently shows that individuals with calcified NCC have a higher prevalence and severity of headache than those without lesions. Prospective neuroimaging demonstrates that intermittent perilesional inflammation, including edema and blood-brain barrier disruption, can activate migraine-generating pathways, with calcitonin gene-related peptide-mediated trigeminovascular sensitization emerging as a key mechanism. These findings challenge the assumption that calcified lesions are clinically irrelevant and instead, support the concept of a distinct inflammation-driven headache phenotype. Recognizing this entity has important implications for diagnosis, counseling, and therapeutic decision-making, particularly in endemic regions where calcifications are common and often dismissed as incidental. Calcified NCC also provides a unique human model for understanding how focal neuroinflammation shapes headache susceptibility.
SN - 0002-9637
SN - 1476-1645
ER -