DOI: 10.11648/j.ijpr.20260203.15 ISSN: 3070-1562

A Chinese Clinical Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Secondary Headache and Orofacial Pain

Zhe Zhang, Yanqing Liu, Dong Huang
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Secondary headaches and orofacial pains, caused by underlying diseases or dysfunctions, are more prevalent than primary headaches and orofacial pains. To date, no clinical guidelines have been established for the diagnosis and treatment of the 11 categories of chronic secondary headaches and orofacial pains on the “International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11)”. To improve the recognition and management of these painful diseases and to standardize diagnostic and therapeutic practices among clinicians in China, the Expert Panel for the Development of Chinese Clinical Guidelines for Chronic Secondary Headache and Orofacial Pain (hereinafter referred to as Expert Panel) compiled the present guideline. This guideline focuses on 8 common chronic secondary headache and orofacial pain disorders that are frequently underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed, but have well-defined diagnostic and therapeutic protocols within the painology department currently. These disorders include: cervicogenic headache, trigeminal neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, sphenopalatine neuralgia, temporomandibular joint disorders, head and facial herpes zoster-related neuralgia, post-stroke persistent headache, and cancer-related head and facial pain. The Expert Panel systematically retrieved and evaluated the available evidence on the definition, epidemiology, pathogenesis clinical manifestations, diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosis, treatment, and recent advances for each of the 8 disorders. The guideline provides recommendations for both pharmacological therapy and minimally invasive treatments based on the evidence, to serve as a practical reference for painologists, neurologists, general practitioners, and other healthcare professionals involved in the management of these chronic secondary headache and orofacial pain.

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