Hemicrania continua in a headache clinic: referral source and diagnostic delay in a series of 22 patients

The Journal of Headache and Pain

Rapid Communication

Irene Muñoz¹  Patricia Mulero¹  María L. Peñas¹  Ángel L. Guerrero¹  Sonia Herrero¹  Dulce Campos¹  María I. Pedraza¹  Elisa Cortijo¹  Rosa Fernández¹  Esther Rojo¹ 

[1] Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Avda Ramón y Cajal 3, 47005, Valladolid, Spain;

关键词: Hemicrania continua;    Indomethacin;    Diagnostic delay;    Headache office;    Referral source;   

DOI  :  10.1007/s10194-012-0471-4

 received in 2012-04-02, accepted in 2012-07-04,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Hemicrania continua (HC) is a unilateral and continuous primary headache with superimposed exacerbations frequently associated with autonomic features. Diagnostic criteria of HC, according to II Edition of International Classification of Headache Disorders require complete response to indomethacin. HC is probably misdiagnosed more often than other primary headaches. We aim to analyze characteristics of a series of 22 consecutive cases of HC. We recruited patients from a headache outpatient clinic in a tertiary hospital over a 3-year period (January 2008 to January 2011). We prospectively gathered demographic and nosological characteristics and considered referral source and delay between onset of headache and diagnosis of HC. Twenty-two patients (14 females, 8 males) out of 1,150, who attended the mentioned clinic during the inclusion period (1.9 %) were diagnosed with HC. All cases responded to indomethacin. No patient received a diagnosis of HC before attending our headache office. Mean latency of diagnosis was 86.1 ± 106.5 months (range 3–360). 11 patients (50 %) were referred from primary care, with 9 (40.9 %) from other neurology clinics and 2 (9.1 %) from other specialities offices. According to our series, HC is not an infrequent diagnosis in a headache outpatient clinic. Diagnostic delay is comparable to data collected in previous studies. As HC is frequently misdiagnosed, we thing there is a need for increasing the understanding of this entity, potentially responsive to indomethacin.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2012