TY - JOUR
T1 - Olfactory hallucinations in primary headache disorders
T2 - Case series and literature review
AU - Coleman, Elisheva R.
AU - Grosberg, Brian M.
AU - Robbins, Matthew S.
N1 - Funding Information:
BMG has received personal compensation for activities with Merck & Co, Inc, and has received research support from Allergan, Inc, St Jude Medical, OrthoMcNeil Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Inc, Merck & Co, Inc, Advanced Bionics, Proethics, and Pfizer, Inc. ERC and MSR have nothing to disclose.
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - Background: Olfactory hallucinations (phantosmias) have rarely been reported in migraine patients. Unlike visual, sensory, language, brainstem, and motor symptoms, they are not recognized as a form of aura by the International Classification of Headache Disorders.Methods: We examined the clinical features of 39 patients (14 new cases and 25 from the literature) with olfactory hallucinations in conjunction with their primary headache disorders.Results: In a 30-month period, the prevalence of phantosmias among all patients seen at our headache center was 0.66%. Phantosmias occurred most commonly in women with migraine, although they were also seen in several patients with other primary headache diagnoses. The typical hallucination lasted 5-60 minutes, occurred shortly before or simultaneous with the onset of head pain, and was of a highly specific and unpleasant odor, most commonly a burning smell. In the majority of patients, phantosmias diminished or disappeared with initiation of prophylactic therapy for headaches.Conclusions: We propose that olfactory hallucinations are probably an uncommon but distinctive form of migraine aura, based on their semiology, timing and response to headache prophylaxis.
AB - Background: Olfactory hallucinations (phantosmias) have rarely been reported in migraine patients. Unlike visual, sensory, language, brainstem, and motor symptoms, they are not recognized as a form of aura by the International Classification of Headache Disorders.Methods: We examined the clinical features of 39 patients (14 new cases and 25 from the literature) with olfactory hallucinations in conjunction with their primary headache disorders.Results: In a 30-month period, the prevalence of phantosmias among all patients seen at our headache center was 0.66%. Phantosmias occurred most commonly in women with migraine, although they were also seen in several patients with other primary headache diagnoses. The typical hallucination lasted 5-60 minutes, occurred shortly before or simultaneous with the onset of head pain, and was of a highly specific and unpleasant odor, most commonly a burning smell. In the majority of patients, phantosmias diminished or disappeared with initiation of prophylactic therapy for headaches.Conclusions: We propose that olfactory hallucinations are probably an uncommon but distinctive form of migraine aura, based on their semiology, timing and response to headache prophylaxis.
KW - Migraine
KW - aura
KW - olfactory aura
KW - olfactory hallucinations
KW - phantosmia
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U2 - 10.1177/0333102411423315
DO - 10.1177/0333102411423315
M3 - Review article
C2 - 21945891
AN - SCOPUS:80054702368
SN - 0333-1024
VL - 31
SP - 1477
EP - 1489
JO - Cephalalgia
JF - Cephalalgia
IS - 14
ER -