Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Migraine : Update on New Therapies


Drugs with a better efficacy or side–effect profile than triptans may soon become available for acute treatment. The future may also look brighter for some of the very disabled chronic migraineurs thanks to novel drug and neuromodulation therapies.

•The oral calcitonine gene–related peptide antagonist Telcagepant is efficacious in acute treatment.
•Triptans, as other drugs, are more efficient if taken early but nonsteroidal anti–inflammatory drugs and analgesics remain useful for acute treatment, according to several meta–analyses.
Single–pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation during the aura rendered more patients pain–free (39%) than sham stimulation (22%) in one study.
Topiramate could be effective for migrainous vertigo, but it did not prevent transformation to chronic migraine in patients with high attack frequency.
Onabotulinumtoxin A was effective for chronic migraine and well tolerated, but the therapeutic gain over placebo was modest; the clinical profile of responders remains to be determined before widespread use.
Occipital nerve stimulation was effective in intractable chronic migraine with 39% of responders compared to 6% after sham stimulation. This and other neuromodulation techniques, such as sphenopalatine ganglion stimulation, are promising treatments for medically refractory patients but large controlled trials are necessary.
•One study suggests that outcome of patent foramen ovale closure in migraine might depend on anatomic and functional characteristics.
study by : Magis D et al
@Current Opinion in Neurology

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