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Previous Volume 342:29-36 January 6, 2000 Number 1 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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"For it happens in this, as the physicians say it happens in hectic fever, that in the beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficult to detect, but in the course of time, not having been either detected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to detect but difficult to cure."

— Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Patients with headache account for 1 to 2 percent of visits to the emergency department^1,2,3,4 and up to 4 percent of visits to physicians' offices.⁵ Most have primary headache disorders, such as migraine and tension-type headaches. Only a few patients . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Scope of the Problem of Misdiagnosis

The Spectrum of Presentation

Warning Headache

Deviations from the Classic Presentation

Secondary Head Injury, High Blood Pressure, and Abnormal Electrocardiographic Findings

Limitations of CT Scanning

Lumbar Puncture and Interpretation of Findings

Conclusions

Source Information

From the Departments of Emergency Medicine (J.A.E.) and Neurology (L.R.C.), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Edlow at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Finard 202, 330 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215, or at jonathan_edlow@hms.harvard.edu.

References

Related Letters:

Making the Diagnosis of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Clatterbuck R. E., Tamargo R., Rigamonti D., Cataltepe O., Langer D., Flamm E., Edlow J. A., Caplan L. R.
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N Engl J Med 2000; 342:1454-1456, May 11, 2000. Correspondence

Mass Psychogenic Illness Attributed to Toxic Exposure at a High School
Miller C. S., Ashford N. A., Goode M. D., Black D., Welch F., Murray V., Heuser G., Rifkin A., Jones T., Craig A., Schaffner W.
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N Engl J Med 2000; 342:1673-1675, Jun 1, 2000. Correspondence

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