Botulinum toxin injections for preventing migraine in adults

Cochrane: People with chronic (persisting) migraine treated with botulinum toxin injections had two fewer migraine days per month than people treated with placebo (fake treatment). It is unclear if this improvement was large enough to make a meaningful difference to their lives. More work is needed to show whether botulinum toxin is better than oral treatments (treatments that are swallowed), that prevent migraine. The evidence for botulinum toxin for people with episodic (occasional) migraine was uncertain. Treatment with botulinum toxin did not cause many side effects.

FDA approves novel preventive treatment for migraine

FDA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Aimovig (erenumab-aooe) for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults. The treatment is given by once-monthly self-injections. Aimovig is the first FDA-approved preventive migraine treatment in a new class of drugs that work by blocking the activity of calcitonin gene-related peptide, a molecule that is involved in migraine attacks.“Aimovig provides patients with a novel option for reducing the number of days with migraine,” said Eric Bastings, M.D., deputy director of the Division of Neurology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “We need new treatments for this painful and often debilitating condition.” 

Migraine: Regions of the Brain We Thought Felt No Pain

INSERM: Could we have been wrong over the past 70 years in thinking that certain regions of the brain are insensitive to pain? This is what the findings of a team of researchers from Inserm, Nice University Hospital, Université Côte d’Azur and St Anne Hospital in Paris would suggest. By collecting observations of brief painful events occurring during brain surgery in awake patients, they found that certain structures – hitherto considered not to feel pain – were at the origin of pain sensations when stimulated mechanically. These findings, to be published shortly in Brain, open up new avenues for research into the treatment of headache and, in particular, migraine.

Study shows easy-to-use, noninvasive stimulation device can help prevent migraine attacks

Mayo Clinic: A migraine is much more than just a bad headache. Migraine symptoms, which can be debilitating for many people, are the sixth leading cause of disability, according to the World Health Organization. While there is no cure, a new study published in Cephalalgia in March shows single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation is a new way to prevent migraine attacks. It's safe, easy to use and noninvasive.

Headache: Don't just take an over-the-counter painkiller

Yale: The person in the airplane seat next to yours is wearing strong perfume and, minutes after takeoff, you get a headache. A week after a cold, your sinuses remain clogged and you get a headache. The barometric pressure drops as summer cools into fall, and pain jabs through your head again. Conventional wisdom holds that those are three different causes of three different headaches. But now researchers say those episodes were most likely going to happen anyway.

Disabling Migraine : A lecture from the American Headache Society

Telemedicine proves value in managing migraine

American Headache Society: Two new studies of the usefulness of telemedicine in treating migraine patients shows it to be as effective as in-office visits, especially in patient follow-up evaluations and in improving a patient’s likelihood of getting the right medications. The studies, at Mercy Virtual in St. Louis, and at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, were presented to some 1,000 migraine specialists and researchers at the 57th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society here.

Promise in New Class of Drugs; Optimistic for Relief for Millions of Sufferers

American Headache Society: Migraine researchers and clinicians are growing excited about a new class of drugs called Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibodies, which are showing promise in treating high-frequency episodic migraine and chronic migraine. "This development is a transformative moment in migraine treatment," said Peter J. Goadsby, MD, PhD, who is chair of the scientific program of the American Headache Society’s annual Scientific Meeting.  Dr. Goadsby is Chief of the UCSF Headache Center, and one of the world’s leading headache treatment experts and researchers.

Young Patients Can Benefit from Migraine Surgery Too

Wolters: As in adults, migraine surgery is effective for selected adolescent patients with severe migraine headaches that don't respond to standard treatments, reports a study in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). ASPS Member Surgeon Bahman Guyuron, MD and colleagues report good outcomes in an initial experience with migraine surgery in younger patients. They write, "Our data demonstrate that surgery for refractory migraine headaches in the adolescent population may improve and potentially completely ameliorate symptoms for some."

Mystery of migraine solved?

Auckland: Researchers have published new findings on the discovery of a potential new drug target for the treatment of migraine. Migraine, a debilitating but common neurological disorder, has puzzled scientists for centuries and while drugs have been developed to treat it, for many people they are ineffective or have significant side effects.  Current strategies for developing new migraine treatments are based on the knowledge that people who suffer from the disorder have elevated levels of a pain-causing hormone called CGRP, or calcitonin gene-related peptide.  Migraine medication developed in recent years to block acute migraine attacks, a class of drugs called “gepants”, work by blocking CGRP activity at the CGRP receptor. 

Migraine

Author: Dr Richard P Kraig University of Chicago 2008-07-24

Migraine: Mechanisms and Management.
Migraine is the most common form of headache for which patients seek medical attention. Migraine also is an immense health care burden to those who suffer from this malady, as well as to society in general.