OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A; BOTOX, Allergan, Inc., Irvine, CA) for the prophylaxis of headaches in patients with chronic daily headache (CDH) without the confounding factor of concurrent prophylactic medications.

BACKGROUND: Several open-label studies and an 11-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study suggest that BoNT-A may be an effective therapy for the prophylaxis of headaches in patients with CDH.

DESIGN AND ...

Use of chronic opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain has increased substantially. The American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine commissioned a systematic review of the evidence on chronic opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain and convened a multidisciplinary expert panel to review the evidence and formulate recommendations. Although evidence is limited, the expert panel concluded that chronic opioid therapy can be an effective therapy for carefully selected ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine if administration of rizatriptan 10 mg is superior to placebo for the early treatment of acute migraine, while the pain is mild.

BACKGROUND: Past studies have suggested that treatment outcomes can be improved if a triptan is administered early in the time course of a migraine attack.

METHODS: Two randomized, parallel, placebo-controlled, double-blind studies. TAME (Treat A Migraine Early)1 was conducted at 46 centers in the United States; TAME2, at 48 centers in ...

OBJECTIVE: A prospective subgroup analysis of the TAME (Treat A Migraine Early) studies examined the efficacy of rizatriptan in patients treating a menstrual migraine attack.

METHODS: Both TAME studies were randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blind. Adults with migraine were assigned (2:1) to either rizatriptan 10-mg tablet or placebo. Patients were instructed to treat within 1 hour of migraine onset and when the pain was mild. The primary endpoint was 2-hour pain freedom. The ...

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate that topiramate is an effective and generally well-tolerated migraine preventive therapy when used for up to 14 months.

BACKGROUND: Topiramate 100 and 200 mg/d significantly reduced mean monthly migraine frequency during 2 large, 26-week, randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Only a small number of clinical trials have examined the long-term (> or =1 year) effectiveness and safety of migraine preventive therapies.

METHODS: Five hundred sixty-seven patients with ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of a standardized special root extract from the plant Petasites hybridus as a preventive therapy for migraine.

METHODS: This is a three-arm, parallel-group, randomized trial comparing Petasites extract 75 mg bid, Petasites extract 50 mg bid, or placebo bid in 245 patients with migraine. Eligible patients met International Headache Society criteria for migraine, were ages 18 to 65, and had at least two to six attacks per month over the ...

Zolmitriptan is a 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonist for the acute treatment of migraine. This study examined the efficacy of a second dose of zolmitriptan for the treatment of persistent or recurrent headache. Part 1 was a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind evaluation of 2.5 mg and 5 mg zolmitriptan for the treatment of persistent migraine headache, two hours after an initial dose of 2.5 mg zolmitriptan. In part 2 (open-label), patients treated the first two attacks with 2.5 mg ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the pain relief, satisfaction, and health-related quality of life results of moderate or severe migraines treated with a sumatriptan/naproxen sodium combination tablet.

METHODS: Sumatriptan and naproxen sodium as a single-dose formulation tablet was used to treat moderate to severe migraines over a 12-month period in a phase 3, open-label, multicenter study (n = 565) in patients with at least 6 months' history of migraine headaches.

RESULTS: Seventy percent of all ...

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the efficacy of various complementary and alternative medicine approaches in the management of headache disorders. These treatment modalities include nutraceutical, physical and behavioral therapies. Nutraceutical options comprise vitamins and supplements (magnesium, riboflavin, coenzyme Q(10), and alpha lipoic acid) and herbal preparations (feverfew, and butterbur). Although controversial, there are some reports demonstrating the benefit of ...

Anticonvulsant and antidepressant medications have demonstrated efficacy in migraine treatment. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an effective treatment for drug-refractory epilepsy and possibly depression and it also has documented analgesic effects. These observations suggested a possible role for VNS in treating severe refractory headaches, and led to a trial of VNS in patients with such headaches. VNS was implanted in four men and two women with disabling chronic cluster and migraine ...

Magnesium is an important intracellular element that is involved in numerous cellular functions. Deficiencies in magnesium may play an important role in the pathogenesis of migraine headaches by promoting cortical spreading depression, alteration of neurotransmitter release and the hyperaggregation of platelets. Given this multifaceted role of magnesium in migraine, the use of magnesium in both acute and preventive headache treatment has been researched as a potentially simple, ...

OBJECTIVE: Although a wide range of acute and preventative medications are now available for the treatment of migraine headaches, many patients will not have a significant improvement in the frequency and severity of their headaches unless lifestyle modifications are made. Also, given the myriad side effects of traditional prescription medications, there is an increasing demand for "natural" treatment like vitamins and supplements for common ailments such as headaches. Here, we discuss ...