ICHD-3 Criteria (SUNCT and SUNA)

Applies the ICHD-3 criteria for section 3.3 and returns the SUNCT or SUNA subtype.

Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.

Example

Number of attacks
30
Moderate or severe one-sided trigeminal pain
Yes
Attack duration, seconds
60
Stabs or saw-tooth pattern
Yes
Attacks per day
5
Conjunctival injection
Yes
Tearing
Yes
No better ICHD-3 explanation
Yes

Result: 3.3.1 SUNCT

The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.

What the result means

A
At least 20 attacks fulfilling B to D.
B
Moderate or severe one-sided head pain in an orbital, supraorbital, temporal or other trigeminal distribution, lasting 1 to 600 SECONDS, in stabs or a saw-tooth pattern.
C
At least ONE ipsilateral cranial autonomic symptom or sign.
D
A frequency of at least one a day.
No restlessness route
Cluster headache and paroxysmal hemicrania accept restlessness INSTEAD of an autonomic sign. 3.3 does not. Carrying their wording across grants criterion C to patients who do not meet it.
The duration ladder
1 to 600 seconds here; 2 to 30 minutes for paroxysmal hemicrania; 15 to 180 minutes for cluster headache. The units change between them.
3.3.1 SUNCT
BOTH conjunctival injection and tearing, ipsilateral to the pain.
3.3.2 SUNA
Only one of those two, or neither. Not a severity gradient: florid tearing without conjunctival injection is SUNA, not a mild SUNCT.

What you enter

  • Number of attacks
  • Moderate or severe one-sided trigeminal pain
  • Attack duration, seconds
  • Stabs or saw-tooth pattern
  • Attacks per day
  • Conjunctival injection
  • Tearing
  • Nasal congestion or rhinorrhea
The other 7 fields
  • Eyelid edema
  • Forehead and facial sweating
  • Forehead and facial flushing
  • Sensation of fullness in the ear
  • Miosis or ptosis
  • Restlessness (not an alternative here)
  • No better ICHD-3 explanation
How this is calculated

Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society (IHS). The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition. Cephalalgia. 2018;38(1):1-211, section 3.3 and its subsections. Read the source ↗

A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.

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Built by Clay Good. Source on GitHub.