Photo of Dr Sanjay Cheema

Dr Sanjay Cheema

Telephone:

Email:

Location:

  • National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

GMC/GDC number:

7419153

Professional background

Dr Sanjay Cheema is a consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and an honorary clinical lecturer at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. 

He sees patients with a wide variety of neurological symptoms and diseases in a general neurology clinic. He sees patients with complex headache disorders such as treatment-refractory migraine, cluster headache, cranial neuralgias, and rare headache syndromes in a specialist headache clinic. He has a particular interest in the management of patients with orthostatic headache and spinal CSF leaks and runs a weekly clinic and MDT meeting for these disorders in collaboration with neuroradiology and spinal surgery colleagues. 

Dr Cheema’s undergraduate training was at Imperial College School of Medicine where he qualified with multiple distinctions and a 1st class intercalated BSc in neuroscience and mental health. His general medical training was in the Oxford deanery and West London, and his neurology training was based in Brighton and Sussex. From 2020 - 2024, he completed a PhD on new daily persistent headache syndromes at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. He has published widely on a variety of primary and secondary headache disorders and was the lead author of the 2023 national consensus guideline for the management of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. 

Specialties

Research interests

  • Migraine
  • Cluster headache
  • Spontaneous intracranial hypotension 

Publications

For a full list, see here.

  • Cheema S, Rantell KR, Pickering R, Lagrata S, Kamourieh S, Matharu M. Calcitonin gene-related peptide monoclonal antibody treatment for new daily persistent headache. J Headache Pain. 2025;26(1):170. 
  • Cheema S, Garr E, Mehta D, Chapman M, Hart M, Lunn MP, et al. Serum cytokines in primary new daily persistent headache and chronic migraine: a case control study. Front Neurol. 2025;16:1547124. 
  • Cheema S, Lagrata S, Rantell KR, Ahmed M, Kamourieh S, Matharu MS. OnabotulinumtoxinA for primary new daily persistent headache and comparison to chronic migraine. Cephalalgia. 2025;45(2):3331024251317448. 
  • D'Antona L, Cheema S, Mehta D, Bremner F, Watkins LD, Toma AK, et al. Intracranial pressure monitoring in patients with spontaneous onset of orthostatic headache. J Headache Pain. 2025;26(1):27. 
  • Mehta D, Cheema S, Glover S, Qureshi AM, Davagnanam I, Kamourieh S, et al. Defining the typical characteristics of orthostatic headache in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Cephalalgia. 2025;45(1):3331024241308154. 
  • Rucker J, Butler M, Hambleton S, Bird C, Seynaeve M, Cheema S, et al. Low-dose psilocybin in short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks: results from an open-label phase Ib ascending dose study. Headache. 2024;64(10):1309-17. 
  • Cheema S, Matharu M. Facial pain in MS: When to think of trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia. Mult Scler. 2024;30(9):1230-1. 
  • Cheema S, Matharu M. Cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias. In: Kernick D, Goadsby PJ, editors. Headache: A Practical Manual (2nd Edition): Oxford University Press; 2024 
  • Cheema S, Mehta D, Qureshi A, Sayal P, Kamourieh S, Davagnanam I, et al. Spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Pract Neurol. 2024;24(2):98-105 
  • Simmonds L, Mehta D, Cheema S, Matharu M. Epidemiology of migraine. Handb Clin Neurol. 2023;198:31-8. 
  • Cheema S, Matharu M. Abdominal migraine and cyclical vomiting syndrome. Handb Clin Neurol. 2023;198:209-19. 
  • Cheema S, Ferreira F, Parras O, Lagrata S, Kamourieh S, Pakzad A, et al. Association of Clinical and Neuroanatomical Factors With Response to Ventral Tegmental Area DBS in Chronic Cluster Headache. Neurology. 2023;101(23):e2423-e2433 
  • Cheema S, Stubberud A, Rantell K, Nachev P, Tronvik E, Matharu M. Phenotype of new daily persistent headache: subtypes and comparison to transformed chronic daily headache. J Headache Pain. 2023;24(1):109. 
  • Cheema S, Anderson J, Angus-Leppan H, Armstrong P, Butteriss D, Carlton Jones L, et al. Multidisciplinary consensus guideline for the diagnosis and management of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2023;94(10):835-43. 
  • Simmonds L, Lagrata S, Stubberud A, Cheema S, Tronvik E, Matharu M, et al. An open-label observational study and meta-analysis of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation in medically refractory chronic cluster headache. Front Neurol. 2023;14:1100426. 
  • Cheema S, Mehta D, Ray JC, Hutton EJ, Matharu MS. New daily persistent headache: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cephalalgia. 2023;43(5):3331024231168089. 
  • Musubire AK, Cheema S, Ray JC, Hutton EJ, Matharu M. Cytokines in primary headache disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Headache Pain. 2023;24(1):36. 
  • Mehta D, Cheema S, Davagnanam I, Matharu M. Diagnosis and treatment evaluation in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Front Neurol. 2023;14:1145949. 
  • Ray JC, Cheema S, Foster E, Gunasekera L, Mehta D, Corcoran SJ, et al. Autonomic symptoms in migraine: Results of a prospective longitudinal study. Front Neurol. 2022;13:1036798. 
  • Cheema S, Anderson J, Duncan C, Davagnanam I, Armstrong P, Redfern N, et al. Survey of healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding spontaneous intracranial hypotension. BMJ Neurol Open. 2022;4(2):e000347. 
  • Ray JC, Pham X, Foster E, Cheema S, Corcoran SJ, Matharu MS, et al. The prevalence of headache disorders in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature. Cephalalgia. 2022:3331024221095153. 
  • Lambru G, Lagrata S, Levy A, Cheema S, Davagnanam I, Rantell K, et al. Trigeminal microvascular decompression for short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks. Brain. 2022;145(8):2882-2893. 
  • Cheema S, Joy C, Pople J, Snape-Burns J, Trevarthen T, Matharu M. Patient experience of diagnosis and management of spontaneous intracranial hypotension: a cross-sectional online survey. BMJ Open. 2022;12(1):e057438. 
  • Cheema S, Matharu M. Migraine and other headaches. In: Wander G, editor. Postgraduate Medicine: Jaypee; 2021. 
  • Cappon D, Ryterska A, Akram H, Lagrata S, Cheema S, Hyam J, et al. The sensitivity to change of the cluster headache quality of life scale assessed before and after deep brain stimulation of the ventral tegmental area. J Headache Pain. 2021;22(1):52. 
  • Cheema S, Matharu M. Cluster Headache: What's New? Neurol India. 2021;69(Supplement):S124-S34. 
  • Grangeon L, O'Connor E, Danno D, Ngoc TMP, Cheema S, Tronvik E, et al. Is pituitary MRI screening necessary in cluster headache? Cephalalgia. 2021;41(7):779-88. 
  • Tso AR, Brudfors M, Danno D, Grangeon L, Cheema S, Matharu M, et al. Machine phenotyping of cluster headache and its response to verapamil. Brain. 2021;144(2):655-64. 
  • Lagrata S, Cheema S, Watkins L, Matharu M. Long-Term Outcomes of Occipital Nerve Stimulation for New Daily Persistent Headache With Migrainous Features. Neuromodulation. 2021;24(6):1093-9. 
  • Khoo A, McLoughlin B, Cheema S, Weil RS, Lambert C, Manji H, et al. Postinfectious brainstem encephalitis associated with SARS-CoV-2. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2020;91(9):1013-4. 
  • Stubberud A, Cheema S, Tronvik E, Matharu M. Nutcracker syndrome mimicking new daily persistent headache: A case report. Cephalalgia. 2020;40(9):1008-11. 
  • Cheema S, Bunting E, Good C, Hajela V, Ridha BH, Saha RA. Balancing immunosuppression and infection: recurrent enterovirus encephalitis in SLE. Pract Neurol. 2019;19(6):508-10. 
  • Li LQ, Cheema S, Goel N. Group B streptococcal meningitis in a previously healthy man. BMJ Case Rep. 2016;2016. 
  • Murdin L, Chamberlain F, Cheema S, Arshad Q, Gresty MA, Golding JF, Bronstein AM. Motion sickness in migraine and vestibular disorders. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2015;86(5):585-7.