Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias presenting in a multidisciplinary tertiary orofacial pain clinic

D. Y. WeiView ORCID ID profile,
D. Moreno-AjonaView ORCID ID profile,
T. RentonView ORCID ID profile and
P. J. GoadsbyEmail author View ORCID ID profile

The Journal of Headache and PainOfficial Journal of the "European Headache Federation" and of "Lifting The Burden - The Global Campaign against Headache"201920:69

https://doi.org/10.1186/s10194-019-1019-7

Received: 24 January 2019
Accepted: 30 May 2019
Published: 11 June 2019

Abstract

Orofacial pain may have a variety of causes and offers a significant clinical challenge for its diagnosis and management.

Objective

To assess the headache disorders presenting in a tertiary multidisciplinary orofacial pain clinic, after dental causes have been excluded.

Methods

Clinic letters from the initial consultation and subsequent follow up reviews of the 142 patients, who were seen in the tertiary Multidisciplinary Orofacial Pain clinic between January 2015 until January 2018 were reviewed as a clinical audit.

Results

The most common diagnoses were possible trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia (n = 62, 44%), migraine (n = 38, 27%) and painful post-traumatic trigeminal neuropathy (n = 17, 12%). The most common trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia diagnosis was hemicrania continua (n = 13, 9%), which is higher than the reported prevalence in neurology and headache clinics.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosing complex orofacial pain patients and the importance of awareness of primary headache disorders, in particular trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, thereby reducing unnecessary diagnostic delays or procedures.