To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: DG DISPATCH - HEADACHE: Valproate Effective In Stopping Persistent Migraine URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/10C936.htm Doctor's Guide June 25, 1999
By Cameron Johnston Special to DG News
BARCELONA, SPAIN -- June 25, 1999 -- Certain intractable, persistent migraines that don't seem to respond to most anti-migraine therapies may be treated successfully with a drug commonly used to treat some forms of epilepsy, researchers reported this week at the 9th congress of the International Headache Society.
Such headaches, which can occur daily - which is rare for migraines -seem refractory to other treatments and appear to have unusual triggers. This has prompted doctors at the Western New England Headache Center in Bennington, VT, to suggest there may be some epileptiform causes to migraine.
A small study involving 20 patients with moderate to severe headaches (they scored 3 or 4 on a four-point scale) compared valproate (500 mg Depacon in a 15-30 minute infusion) against dihydroergotamine (DHE) (1 mg) with metoclopramide (10 mg IM).
Significantly more patients who received valproate reported headache relief at one, two and four hours post-dose of 60, 70 and 70 percent, respectively, compared with the DHE group, whose relief rates were 40, 50 and 60 percent at one, two and four hours, respectively.
There was less photophobia, approximately the same amount of phonophobia and slightly more nausea reported in the group receiving valproate compared to the DHE group.
Dr. William Goodman, who conducted the study said in an interview that it would be impossible to say in advance what patients might be the best candidates for treatment with valproate. He added though, that IV routes of administration are known to offer the fastest relief from migraines, but are not widely accepted because most people do not want to give themselves injections every time they get a headache.
If valproate were to become more widely used, he said, the cost savings could be substantial because on average, it probably costs about one-tenth the cost of sumatriptan and one-third the cost of DHE, Dr. Goodman said.
In an unrelated study, researchers in New Zealand have found that using valproate as a preventive measure could reduce the frequency of migraine attacks by as much as 70 percent. Furthermore, subjects did not develop a tolerance to valproate, which occurs with many anti-migraine therapies. They were able to continue using the drug for a period of up to five years.
Patients who stopped taking valproate during the course of the study quickly reverted to having as many migraine attacks as they did before the study. They also stopped having migraine attacks when they started taking valproate again. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.