Cluster Headache and Vertigo

Abstract

The term “cluster vertigo” was originally used by Gilbert to describe episodes of vertigo in patients with Ménière's syndrome. Since these patients also had co-existing cluster headache, he suggested that both disorders could have had a common pathophysiology. There is no evidence in the literature for an increased incidence of Ménière's syndrome in cluster headache patients, so the argument that cluster headache and Ménière's syndrome may have a common pathogenesis cannot be supported. Subsequent authors have used the term “cluster vertigo” to denote a variant form of cluster headache and have confused the matter further. This was not the intention of the original author. The terminology is misleading and should not be used to describe a sub-type of cluster headache. A case of cluster headache with accompanying vertigo is described as a contrast to the patients described by Gilbert in whom headache and episodes of vertigo occurred independently.