A Diagnostic Approach to Acute Headache

Headache is one of the most common symptomatic ailments encountered by the physician. According to one estimate, headache constitutes the major complaint in more than 50% of patients seen in office practice. This figure refers to patients with chronic recurring headache, many of whom are seen electively when they are asymptomatic, and may not accurately reflect the frequency with which patients present, during the acute phase, complaining of head pain. The term acute headache refers to those episodes of cephalgia which lead the patient to seek immediate medical care