Migraines

Telcagepant 300 mg is effective as an acute treatment for migraine with efficacy comparable to that of zolmitriptan 5 mg, a widely-used migraine treatment, but with fewer associated adverse effects. These are the conclusions of an Article published Online first and in and upcoming edition of The Lancet, written by Dr Tony Ho, Merck Research Laboratories, North Wales, Philadelphia, USA, and colleagues.

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There continues to be a disagreement between the neurological and vascular communities as to when to close the PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale) - the hole in the heart between the right and left atria): the former state that it should be done only after the occurrence of the second stroke, with anticoagulation medicines administered after the first stroke, and this is currently the prevailing practice.

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A team of researchers led by investigators at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has determined that certain commonly-prescribed medications may have the unintended consequence of increasing the frequency of migraine attacks. This important finding could alter the way doctors prescribe migraine medicines.

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At least one in four of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1991 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness, a condition caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and a drug administered to protect troops against nerve gas, and no effective treatments have yet been found, a federal panel of scientific experts and veterans concludes in a landmark report released Monday.

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PHT Corporation, the market-leading provider of electronic patient reported outcome (ePRO) solutions used in more than 360 clinical trials worldwide, is providing its innovative LogPad(R) System to help headache experts at Clinvest Clinical Research measure cognitive deficits during migraine attacks in a sponsored clinical trial. This is the first time cognitive processing time has been tested in a major migraine research study.

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Research to be published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention suggests that women who suffer from migraines may have a reduced risk of developing certain types of breast cancer. Dr Sarah Cant, Policy Manager at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, says: “This small study is the first to suggest that women who suffer migraines may have a reduced risk of developing certain types of breast cancer, so needs to be backed up by further research.

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A new study published in the journal of Minerva Cardioangiologica reveals Pycnogenol, pine bark extract from the French maritime pine tree, reduces jetlag in passengers by nearly 50 percent. The two-part study, consisting of a brain CT scan and a scoring system, showed Pycnogenol lowered symptoms of jetlag such as fatigue, headaches, insomnia and brain edema (swelling) in both healthy individuals and hypertensive patients.

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Women who suffer from migraines may take at least some comfort in a recent, first-of-its-kind study that suggests a history of such headaches is associated with a significantly lower risk of breast cancer. Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center report these findings in the November issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

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There is a critical need to review current treatment strategies for the increasingly common problem of medication overuse headaches (MOH), according to a series of international papers in the November issue of Cephalalgia. “MOH is associated with severe disability, unmet treatment need and little clinical data to support current management strategies” says neurology expert Professor David W Dodick from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Arizona, USA.

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