COMMENT in The Lancet Neurology
July 01, 2021 | Volume 20, ISSUE 7, P498-499
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(21)00163-0
Denys Fontaine, Michel Lantéri-Minet
Cluster headache is a primary headache disorder characterised by attacks of strictly unilateral severe pain lasting 15–180 min, associated with prominent parasympathetic features. Most patients with chronic cluster headache attending tertiary headache centres have severe functional impairment and emotional distress.1A substantial number of patients with chronic cluster headache continue to have at least three severe attacks per week despite adequate treatment trials, and are therefore diagnosed with medically intractable (or refractory) chronic cluster headache.2Medically intractable chronic cluster headache is one of the most painful conditions in humans, often referred to as the suicidal headache.