[Chronic cluster headache : how much does treatment cost?]

Chronic cluster headache is a devastating pain condition where invasive methods such as occipital or deep brain stimulation are discussed when the condition is medically intractable. These methods are expensive but may well be economically reasonable if medications such as triptans can be reduced. However, little is known about how much a cluster headache costs, even if only primary parameters such as costs of medication, doctors and diagnostics are considered. We describe a patient with a secondary chronic cluster headache who over the course of 10 years prospectively recorded every single attack as well as all expenses for his condition. In these 10 years he suffered a total of 5,447 attacks and the overall medical expenses amounted to 60,667 EUR, the predominant part of which was caused by costs due to the cluster headache itself (47,030 EUR, 77.5%). The inhalation of oxygen accounted for the lion's share.