Going to the USA--a US headache center from an Italian perspective.

During a period I spent at the UCSF Headache Center in the USA, I noted striking differences between the US health-care system and the Italian one in which I was trained. Here, I aim to outline some of these differences from a scientific-and, more importantly, from a sociocultural-point of view. Awareness of these aspects may help us to better understand different approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, including headache.