Migraine nerve treatment hope

Thursday February 7th, 2013

Just 20 minutes of nerve stimulation a day may help people suffering from migraine headaches, researchers reported last night.

The treatment is delivered by a device placed on the forehead, delivering electrical pulses to a nerve that encircles the head.

Researchers in Belgium said the findings were "exciting".

The treatment has been tested on 67 people and the findings were reported in the journal Neurology last night.

The researchers found that those volunteers who received the treatment enjoyed a reduction in migraine attacks from 6.9 days a month on average to 4.8 days.

Another group were given sham treatment and experienced no reduction in attacks.

Researcher Dr Jean Schoenen, of Liège University, Belgium, said: "These results are exciting, because the results were similar to those of drugs that are used to prevent migraine, but often those drugs have many side effects for people, and frequently the side effects are bad enough that people decide to quit taking the drug."

Neurology 6 February 2013

Tags: Brain & Neurology | Europe | Pain Relief

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