RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Assessment of acute headache in adults – what the general physician needs to know
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 422
OP 427
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-5-422
VO 18
IS 5
A1 Krishna Chinthapalli
A1 Anne-Marie Logan
A1 Rohit Raj
A1 Niranjanan Nirmalananthan
YR 2018
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/18/5/422.abstract
AB Headache is common. Up to 5% of attendances to emergency departments and acute medical units are due to headache. Headache is classified as either primary (eg migraine, cluster headache) or secondary to another cause (eg meningitis, subarachnoid haemorrhage). Even in the acute setting the majority of cases are due to primary causes. The role of the attending physician is to take a comprehensive history to diagnose and treat benign headache syndromes while ruling out sinister aetiologies. This brief article summarises the approach to assessment of headache presenting in acute and emergency care.