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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The study by Maizels¹ on the management of emergency department patients with benign headache observed that adequate histories and physical examinations are inconsistently performed. For this corrective I am grateful. Two assertions of this study, however, merit further discussion.

By using the strict diagnostic criteria for migraine headache devised by the International Headache Society (IHS), Maizels calculates a high incidence of misdiagnosis. Because many features of the criteria were selected arbitrarily without scientific validation,² simpler criteria for migraine have been proposed for use in clinical practice.³ One wonders how much more accurate these diagnosticians would appear if they were allowed to diagnose a migraine without aura if it was the patient's third (not fifth) episode or if it lasted 84 (not 72) hours.

Maizels classified dihydroergotamine and the triptans as "migraine-specific." What was deemed nonspecific but "otherwise appropriate" unfortunately is not stated. In their evidence-based guidelines for the pharmacological management . . . [Full Text of this Article]