Abstract
Headache is one of the most common symptoms encountered in routine medical practice and brain checkups. In Japan, more than 30 million people are suffering from chronic headache, which may affect quality of life and can also have social negative influences due to decreasing productivity. Although simplistic treatment that involved taking painkillers for headache was customary in the past, many advances have been made including the development of drugs effective against migraine, the establishment of prophylactic therapies. Conducting this type of tailor-made treatment in accordance with each patient is expected to improve chronic headache. However, treatment up until now placed too much focus on distinguishing primary headache from secondary headache, which are directly related to vital prognosis and aftereffects. Primary headache, which require time and effort for correct diagnosis as they mainly, involve medical interviews, tended to be disregarded.
Thus, despite experiencing headache that caused a high degree of impairment to their daily lives, many chronic headache sufferers were not receiving adequate care at medical facilities. However, with the aim of improving the level of treatment, the Japanese Headache Society established a specialist system since 2005 and, in the medical care guidelines for chronic headache published in 2006.
While our hospital has a role as a major center for neuronal disease in the Tohoku region, 30-40% of patients visit to our hospital complaining of headaches. Until 2009, headache patients were seen by non-specialists, but since 2010 it conducted by a specialist had been established. Setting up this system has caused great change to be observed in headache treatment and particularly in the treatment of migraine, which are considered severe. This report outlines changes in headache treatment brought about by intervention with specialists and investigates what constitutes better treatment.
