Moon, Justin S.

Introduction: Nummular headache is a rare primary headache disorder described by a focal circumscribed area of pain (2–6 cm in diameter). Literature on this disorder is sparse. Patients and methods: Here, we describe a case series of 16 patients (6 men, 10 women) seen at the Mayo Clinic. Results: Mean age of onset was 50 years (range, 19–79 years) and mean duration of headache was 7.9 years (range, 0.33–40 years). Location of headache varied and was found to be an average of 3.9 cm in diameter (range, 2–10 cm). Headache was episodic (<15 days/month) in four patients and chronic (>15 days/month) in 12 patients. Attention was paid to therapeutic interventions. Resolution was seen in 38% of patients. Migraine was present in the history of 56% of patients and medication overuse headache was found in 25%. Conclusions: Our series results support previous findings. In our population, no specific therapy was identified to be effective in more than one patient.