In medicine a headache or cephalalgia is a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and sometimes neck. Some of the causes are benign while others are medical emergencies. It ranks among the most common pain complaints.Fact: date=February 2009
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In medicine a headache or cephalalgia is a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and sometimes neck. Some of the causes are benign while others are medical emergencies. It ranks among the most common pain complaints.Fact: date=February 2009
There are a number of different classification systems for headaches. The most well-recognized is that of the International Headache Society.
Treatment of a headache depends on the underlying etiology or cause, but commonly involves analgesics.
Classification
The classification of headaches has a rich history. The first recorded system that resembles the modern ones was published by Thomas Willis, in De Cephalagia in 1672. In 1787 Christian Baur generally divided headaches into idiopathic (primary headaches) and symptomatic (secondary ones), and defined 84 categories.
Today headaches are most thoroughly classified by the International Headache Society's, International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD), which published the second edition in 2004. This classification is accepted by the WHO.
Other classification systems exist. One of the first published attempts was in 1951. NIH developed a classification system in 1962.
Headaches can also be classified by severity and acuity of onset. Headaches that are both severe and acute are known as thunderclap headaches.
ICHD-2
The International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) is an in-depth hierarchical classification of headaches published by the International Headache Society. It contains explicit (operational) diagnostic criteria for headache disorders. The first version of the classification, ICHD-1, was published in 1988. The current revision, ICHD-2, was published in 2004.
The classification uses numeric codes. The top, one-digit diagnostic level includes 14 headache groups. The first four of these are classified as primary headaches, groups 5-12 as secondary headaches, cranial neuralgia, central and primary facial pain and other headaches for the last two groups.
Primary headaches
Migraine
Tension-type headache (TTH)
Cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TAC)
Other primary headaches including
- Hemicrania continua
- Coital cephalalgia
- New daily persistent headache (NDPH)
Secondary headaches
Headache attributed to head and/or neck trauma
- Head injury
Headache attributed to cranial or cervical vascular disorder including:
- Intracerebral hemorrhage
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage
- Giant cell arteritis
Headache attributed to non-vascular intracranial disorder including:
- Idiopathic intracranial hypertension
- Post dural puncture headaches
- Ictal headache
Headache attributed to a substance or its withdrawal including:
