Secondary chronic cluster headache due to trigeminal nerve root compression.

A 50-year-old woman had a gradual onset of chronic headache located in the right temporal region and a burning sensation in the root of the tongue which over a year evolved into chronic cluster headache with a milder chronic headache in-between the severe cluster headache attacks. A cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve root on the pain side. Neurosurgery microvascular decompression relieved the patient's chronic cluster headache, the chronic intermittent headache and the burning tongue sensation. The effect was persistent at a 1 year follow-up. Patients with atypical symptoms of cluster headache should be examined with cerebral MRI angiography of arteries and veins to exclude symptomatic causes.