The sweating pattern in "hemicrania continua". A comparison with chronic paroxysmal hemicrania.

A comparison of the heat- and pilocarpine-induced forehead sweating patterns was carried out in 8 patients with "Hemicrania continua" (HC) and in healthy subjects (n = 17 and 14 for the two tests, respectively). The results were compared with those obtained in 8 patients with chronic paroxysmal hemicrania (CPH). Unlike what has been demonstrated in cluster headache, CPH and HC patients showed no symptomatic/non-symptomatic side asymmetry or medial-lateral preponderance after sweat stimulation by heating or pilocarpine, exceeding those observed in the control group. The only exception seems to be a significant relative increase in medial forehead sweating on both sides in HC patients when compared to controls during the heating test. With these variables, no evidence for any difference of major importance seems to exist between the two headache forms.