EAN 2025 | Update on cluster headache from EAN 2025: neuroinflammation and the disease’s natural course

An exciting study is on cluster headaches. It is a primary headache, a very severe headache type, and more affecting men than females. So that’s very unusual in contrast to migraine. And it reacts completely differently in many aspects than migraine. So we also look for a better treatment there. And we still haven’t, but we have seen some signals there. And that some of the neuropeptides are disturbed in a cluster headache as well. And we also saw that some inflammatory markers could be detected in cluster headaches. So is it a neuroinflammation that is going on? So there’s exciting studies there. Nunu Lund from Danish Headache Centre presented that. And then there was a study from the Netherlands, from the Leiden Group, that had studied what is the natural course of cluster headache, because it usually starts when they are young. The patients are young. It can even occur in children. And then what happened over time? Could they follow? Could it go into remission? And they have demonstrated that it goes into remission in the fifth decade for some of the patients, many of them. And there is a gradual remission phase, but we cannot predict it in the individual, but as a group there is a remission phase in old age. And that’s what we see in the clinic, but it’s good to have good data and they have produced that. So that’s fantastic. But more to do. What is the starting point and how can we switch it off? So the patient can live a normal life.

This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.