Cluster Headaches - Exams and Tests

Exams and Tests

Your health professional will be able to diagnose cluster headaches with a medical history and physical exam. Since cluster headaches have a classic set of symptoms, your health professional usually can make a diagnosis based on your description of the headaches. Imaging tests are not commonly needed to help find a treatment for your pain.

If your cluster headaches are not helped by treatment, become chronic, or didn't begin until you were over age 50, your health professional may order imaging tests to rule out other causes for the headaches. Imaging tests may also be ordered if the pattern or symptoms of your headaches change, you develop a serious medical condition such as cancer or diabetes, or the headaches are triggered by physical exertion, sex, coughing, or sneezing.

If you need imaging tests, they include:

• Computed tomography scan (CT scan) of the head. A CT produces detailed pictures of structures inside the body. It can also detect serious but uncommon medical problems such as brain tumors.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the head. An MRI can detect changes in the normal structure of your brain. It may be ordered to rule out other serious medical problems such as brain tumors, blood clots, or a bulge in the wall of a blood vessel (aneurysm). However, most headaches are not caused by these more serious conditions.

Talking with your health professional may help you decide whether to have imaging tests to evaluate your headaches. For more information on this decision, see:

Should I have imaging tests to evaluate my headaches?

If your symptoms are not clearly related to cluster headaches, your health professional may order additional tests such as blood or urine tests to rule out other causes.