Abstract
I am delighted to be writing in the first issue of the new-look Cephalalgia. Over the first few months of 2010, SAGE has uploaded all Cephalalgia issues back to 1981 onto the new online journal platform, giving subscribers and IHS members full access to hundreds of key headache articles. All IHS Guidelines, the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) supplements, and IHC abstracts are freely available to non-subscribers to fulfil the IHS mission to advance headache science, education, and management worldwide. I would like to thank our Editor, Dr David Dodick, and the SAGE team for their efforts in ensuring a smooth transition from the previous publisher.
The IHS Standing committees continue their valuable activities, and I am pleased to announce the appointment of several new Vice-Chairmen. Professor Peter Goadsby, IHS President-elect, has been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Classification committee, to work alongside Professor Jes Olesen in future revisions of the ICHD. Dr Allan Purdy of Canada, renowned for his educational teaching, has taken up the position as Vice-Chairman of the Education committee, and Dr Guus Schoonman of The Netherlands, for several years Chairman of our very active and respected Residents and Trainees Special Interest Group, is the new Vice-Chairman of the Membership committee. For Clinical Trials, two Vice-Chairmen have been appointed to represent both Europe and the Americas: Dr Julio Pascual, Spain, and Dr Nabih Ramadan, USA.
Two committees, the Ethics Standing Committee and the Primary Care Special Interest Group, would like to hear from people who are interested in joining the committees. If these committees are within your expertise, please contact the IHS administration team (
Preparations are continuing for the next IHC to be held in Berlin in June 2011. The website (<http://www2.kenes.com/ihc2011/Pages/Home.aspx>) has been launched, and details are being posted as available. To join the mailing list and keep up-to-date, visit the website and sign up!
We would be very interested to hear your recommendations for the scientific programme. If you have suggestions of topics and speakers, please email our Secretariat at
Dr Alan Rapoport of the USA and his committee have run the first Case of the Quarter on the IHS Online Learning and Education Centre. The interactive part of the case ran for 4 weeks and was open only to the first 15 participants. The author and discussant of the first case was Allan Purdy. The participants registered online; they were given the main facts of the case and asked to answer some initial questions and attempt to make a short list of differential diagnoses. A week later, participants received further history, were asked new questions and could refine their diagnoses. During the third week, all appropriate laboratory data were posted online, including blood tests, lumbar puncture results, X-rays, CT and MRI scans and biopsies. Each week, participants received responses online directly from Allan. In the last week, the diagnosis was revealed and posted along with appropriate treatment and relevant articles from Cephalalgia together with a chapter from a headache book. The interaction was not available in real-time to members who did not register, but became available afterwards.
The first case was very straightforward, with no surprises, the concept being that an accurate diagnosis is not as important as the thinking process around it. There were enough learning points in this case to keep the most junior, to the most expert, physician learning. The learning process is in the discussion of the case, differential diagnosis, evaluation process and treatment algorithms.
The plan is to do four cases during 2010, and eventually roll this out for fuller member participation. It is anticipated that even those not involved with the interaction may wish to read the comments going back and forth in real-time, and I look forward to seeing how this exciting new initiative will develop.
Hans-Christoph Diener MD PhD