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To My Patients,
Update on New Migraine Headache
Treatment
Migraine headaches affect 27.9
million individuals (70% women) in the US and are a cause of
substantial disability, impaired work productivity, and utilization
of health care services and resources. Most individuals are between
25 and 55 years of age.
The overall burden of headache disorders could be lessened by more
effective therapies to reduce the frequency and severity of headache
attacks. For patients with chronic, disabling migraines, there is
increasing interest in a preventive approach to reduce or prevent
the occurrence of migraine attacks. The rationale for this approach
is that reducing the frequency and/or severity of migraine attacks
could decrease the need for acute headache medication and health
care services. Furthermore, preventing or reducing the severity of
migraine would also be expected to have significant effects in the
workplace, leading to fewer workdays missed and enhanced
productivity.
The use of botulinum toxin type A (BOTOX*) is a new approach to
preventive headache therapy that is well tolerated and has a long
duration of action- characteristics that are preferable for
prolonged clinical use. Clinical trials published in 2004
demonstrated that Botox treatment effectively reduced headache
symptoms and headache frequency as well as a 57% reduction in
medication usage.
Randy Birken, MD
www.gynfo.com |
