Step 1

Pathology 5

A 31-year-old man presents to the emergency department complaining of recurrent extremely severe headaches. He denies any other past medical history and states there is no family history of headaches. He reports that he researched headaches online and thinks he may have cluster headaches.

Which of the descriptions are most consistent with cluster headache?

  • A) Extreme facial pain that is very brief and is often triggered by light touch to the face.
  • B) Headache that is bilateral, dull, and non-pulsating in a band-shaped distribution on the forehead and triggered by stress.
  • C) Headache that is preceded by aura and includes photophobia and phonophobia.
  • D) Headache that is consistently relieved by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
  • E) Headache that is unilateral, recurs multiple times per day for a stretch of weeks, and wakes patient up from sleep.

Authors

Dr. Ted O'Connell

Kole Akula

Editor

Dr. Ted O'Connell

Source