We evaluated 102 patients attending the Headache Study Center of the University of Modena who were suffering from chronic daily headache with daily drug intake. Patients underwent either day hospital treatment followed by a standard prophylactic therapy or they started prophylactic therapy immediately. After 30 and 120 days, both the Headache index and the daily drug intake had significantly improved (P < 0.001), and there were no differences in reduction of mean values of the Headache index or daily drug intake with respect to the two treatments, nor with regard to the prophylactic therapy chosen. Twenty-eight percent of patients reverted to daily drug intake after a 4-month follow-up; these patients took barbiturate-containing mixtures in a higher percentage than other drugs, and within the group of relapsing patients the outpatients relapsed to analgesic intake more than the day hospital-treated patients (P < 0.05).

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

High efficacy and low frequency of headache recurrence after oral sumatriptan. The Oral Sumatriptan Italian Study Group.

This multicentre, double-blind study compared (100 mg) sumatriptan administered orally with placebo in treating an acute attack of migraine; 238 patients were studied over a 48-h period. Four hours after treatment, 92 of the 142 evaluable sumatriptan patients (65%) showed significant reductions (P < 0.001) in headache severity, clinical disability and accompanying symptoms compared with 32 of the 80 evaluable placebo-treated patients (40%). The duration of attack prior to taking medication and the history of persistent migraine do not influence the observed difference between the two treatment regimens (sumatriptan and placebo), which remained statistically significant (P < 0.001) in both cases. The incidence of headache recurrence in patients who experienced relief 4 h after initial treatment was low, occurring in 16 (17%) and 4 (13%) of the sumatriptan- and placebo-treated patients, respectively. Only patients with a history of migraine attacks lasting longer than 24 h suffered headache recurrences, and these recurrences were not consistent with the International Headache Society definition of migraine. Treatment with sumatriptan was well tolerated.

Acute Disease↗

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[New aspects of therapy in hemicrania].

Within the pharmacological treatment of migraine it is possible to distinguish treatment of attacks and prevention therapy. The aim of attack treatment is to stop pain and accompanying symptoms, or at least to make them more tolerable, whereas the aim of prophylaxis is to reduce the frequency and possibly the severity and duration of the residual episodes. The choice to initiate either treatment, or both, is based on quantitative criteria, such as attack frequency (if greater than 2-3 per month, prophylaxis treatment is recommendable) and on qualitative features, like the degree of disability, the response and the tolerance of the patient to attack treatment. Prophylaxis treatment has not achieved any improvement since 1981, when propranolol was first utilized. The knowledge of the mechanisms of action of drugs used in prophylaxis, as well as their results, are at a standstill. Even with the newer calcium channel antagonists and beta-blockers we achieve a 50% reduction of attacks in less than half of subjects treated. On the other hand, we had important news in the treatment of migraine attacks. Sumatriptan, a selective agonist of serotonin receptors, represents a therapeutic novelty due both to the results obtained and to the studies that have been stimulated on the pathogenesis of migraine. New therapeutic perspectives are now opening and hopefully thanks to the cooperation of basic and clinical scientists, they might become a reality in a short time.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

PubMedDate not supplied