Cerebral angiography is an analysis which is done to create images of the blood vessels present in the brain using a special dye and X-rays. There are few shreds of evidence in the literature that patients showed an increased risk of headaches following cerebral angiography. This study highlights that headache frequency and type can be associated with the cerebral angiography.

No previous authentic estimations of headaches following catheter‐based cerebral angiography are present. This study intended to conduct an observational cohort study to determine the incidence and type of headaches following catheter‐based cerebral angiography.

The study included the patients who went through cerebral angiography by the transfemoral route. All patients went through a small neurological assessment next to the procedure, and more comprehensive evaluation was conducted if any patient-reported existence of a headache. If the diagnostic criteria defined by the International Headache Society were met, the problems were labelled as a migraine. The visual numeric rating scale used to grade the headache severity and time to reach pain-free status for two consecutive hours was determined.

Out of 158 patients who went through cerebral angiography, only five showed the incidence of a migraine headache. The average extremity of migraine headaches was 10/10 with 120 minutes to the resolution of headaches. Migraine headaches eventuated 4 of 17 patients with regular migraine headaches and 4 of 22 patients with a history of a migraine. Six patients who did not meet the criteria for migraine headaches showed the presence of headaches.

The study presents the incident rates of migraine headaches, an under-recognized adverse event, among patients undergoing catheter‐based cerebral angiography.