Cluster headache: imaging and other developments.
Cluster headache, one of the most severe pain syndromes in humans, is usually described as a vascular headache. However, the striking circadian rhythmicity of this strictly unilateral pain syndrome cannot readily be explained by the vascular hypothesis. Recent studies using positron emission tomography suggest that a central nervous system dysfunction in the region of the hypothalamus is the primum movens in the pathophysiology of cluster headache. From a physiological viewpoint, therefore, cluster headache should be described as a neurovascular headache, thus placing equal emphasis on its fundamental pathophysiology and clinical expression.
May
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University Department of Clinical Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK. amay@ion.ucl.ac.uk
Goadsby
P J
PJ
D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D003027:Cluster Headache / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D012307:Risk Factors; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon