Diagnostic and therapeutic errors in trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and hemicrania continua: a systematic review

Table 2 Data extracted from case reports dealing with diagnostic/therapeutic errors in PH

Authors	N. of pts	Sample	Diagnostic delay	Misdiagnoses	Treatment received before diagnosis of PH	Number/type of physicians consulted prior to correct diagnosis
Alonso and Nixdorf 2006 [20]	1	Case report	NR	TMD	Splint therapy and bite adjustments	NR
Sarlani er al 2003 [16]	1	Case report	2 yrs	TN and sinusitis	Maxillary sinus surgery, carbamazepine and prednisone, paracetamol	NR
Benoliel and Sharav 1998 [22]	7	Case reports	10 mths (range 1–30)	Pain of dental origin (4), TMD (1), CH (1) *	2 pts had irreversible treatments (1 extraction, 1 RCT), and 1 pt received antibiotics	Mostly at least one dental practitioner
Moncada and Graff-Radford 1995 [25]	1§	Case report	12 yrs	TMD	Complete mouth reconstruction then recommendation to have condyloplasty	3 neurologists, 1 dentist, 1 oral surgeon
Delcanho and Graff-Radford 1993 [24]	2	Case report	Case 1: NR; Case 2: 3 yrs	Case 1: dental pain, migraine; Case 2: TN, TMD	Case 1: RCT, migraine prophylactic medications; Case 2: phenytoin 100 mg t.i.d.	Case 1: numerous physicians including dentist, neurologist, internal medicine specialist; Case 2: 2 dentists, 1 GP, 1 ENT specialist

PH: paroxysmal hemicrania; TMD: temporomandibular disorder; TN: trigeminal neuralgia; CH: cluster headache; mths: months; yrs: years; NR: not reported; RCT: root canal therapy; * in one patient no previous diagnosis were reported; § together with another 7 indomethacin-responsive headache patients with orofacial pain as the presenting symptom, 2 of whom were chronic paroxysmal hemicrania cases already included in a previous article [24].

ISSN: 1129-2377