Intravenous lidocaine for inducing remission of cluster period

Abstract

Cluster headache is a rare clinical condition, classified by the IHS as a trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia. Some known abortive treatments are inhaled oxygen, subcutaneous sumatriptan, intravenous dihydroergotamine and intranasal lidocaine. However, previous case reports suggest that intravenous lidocaine may play a role in the treatment of cluster headache attacks. We describe a patient with refractory cluster headache, whose condition remitted after the use of intravenous lidocaine. Therapy with lidocaine was conducted without harm, and the remission after a "single shot" suggested this approach to be safe and desirable to be tried in patients with cluster headache..