[Headache: diagnosis and treatment]

Abstract

Headache is the most common reason why patients visit a neurologist. Approximately 70% of the population suffer from headache. The symptoms in this condition are rather simple and a well-controlled therapy is mostly available, but there are still frequent failures in the diagnosis and therapy of headaches. Failures in the treatment are caused mainly by the fact the doctors are not able to set the appropriate diagnosis. It is recommended that patients with persisting headache should turn to headache centers. The therapy should be determined by the frequency and duration of the headache, its severity, the accompanying symptoms and preceding therapeutic history. This survey may be of assistance on the state-of-the-art diagnostics and therapy of headaches in neurological practice.