While most headaches are the result of benign conditions, patients and providers are concerned with intracranial pathologic conditions.
Researchers analyzed the utilization of neuroimaging services from 2007 to 2011 using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.
During the study period, they found patients visited physicians 51.1 million times for headaches and 25.4 million times for migraines. Just over half, 54 percent, of patients visited their primary care provider for headache concerns. Twenty percent visited neurologists and 12.9 percent visited other specialists.
Patients with headaches received neuroimaging 12.4 percent of the time, and patients with migraines received neuroimaging 9.8 percent of the time. The rate of neuroimaging was higher if the headache or migraine was the primary reason for the visit. Since 1995, the rate of neuroimaging utilization increased by 5.1 percent.
Over the four years, researchers estimate neuroimaging expenditures totaled $3.9 billion.
Researchers suggest neuroimaging should not be a standard protocol for patients with headaches or migraines due to its high cost, especially since serious conditions are only detected one to three percent of the time. Additionally, they suggest interventions to optimize neuroimaging utilization should be a national priority.
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