Evaluation of the ICHD-3 diagnostic criteria for cardiac cephalalgia and new proposal

María Pilar Navarro-Pérez*, Sonia Santos-Lasaosa, Jes Olesen

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Background: The current International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition (ICHD-3) diagnostic criteria for cardiac cephalalgia were established according to previous case reports and the opinion of experts. We aimed to assess the ICHD-3 diagnostic criteria for cardiac cephalalgia. Methods: We conducted a series of cases study and evaluated these criteria in 54 patients with cardiac cephalalgia. Next, we assessed whether the ICHD-3 diagnostic criteria B, C and D for migraine without aura were fulfilled by these patients. Results: ICHD-3 criteria A, B, C1, C2 and D for cardiac cephalalgia were met by 100% of patients, whereas criterion C3 was fulfilled by 81.5%. The least frequently fulfilled sub-criterion was C3b (accompanied by nausea) (18.5%). Moreover, we found that ICHD-3 criteria B, C and D for migraine without aura were met by a low proportion of patients: 11.1%, 46.3% and 25.9%, respectively, and no patient fulfilled the three criteria simultaneously. Conclusion: Based on our results, we propose revised diagnostic criteria for cardiac cephalalgia. We suggest removing criterion C3 and C4. We also suggest removing the word “migraine-like” from its description.

Original languageEnglish
JournalCephalalgia
Volume43
Issue number11
Number of pages6
ISSN0333-1024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© International Headache Society 2023.

Keywords

  • Cardiac cephalalgia
  • headache
  • ICHD-3
  • myocardial infarction
  • secondary headache

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