Acute Therapy for Migraine Headaches

ABSTRACT

The migraine attack is made up of phases, which include the prodrome, aura, and the headache itself. Not every migraineur experiences each phase. Each phase has its own distinct pathogenesis and its own unique acute therapy. The acute therapy for each phase of the migraine attack will be discussed.

KEYWORDS

Migraine - acute therapy - triptans - prodrome - aura

REFERENCES

• 1 Silberstein S D, Young W B. Migraine aura and prodrome.  Semin Neurol. 1995;  15 175-182
• 2 Waelkens J. Dopamine blockade with domperidone: bridge between prophylactic and abortive treatment of migraine? A dose-finding study.  Cephalalgia. 1984;  4 85-90
• 3 Rozen T D. Migraine prodrome: a nose on a face.  Lancet. 2004;  363 517
• 4 Silberstein S D, Saper J R, Freitag F G. Migraine: diagnosis and treatment. In: Silberstein SD, Lipton RB, Dalessio DJ Wolff's Headache. Oxford, UK; Oxford University Press 2001: 121-237
• 5 Luciani R, Carter D, Mannix L, Hemphill M, Diamond M, Cady R. Prevention of migraine during prodrome with naratriptan.  Cephalalgia. 2000;  20 122-126
• 6 Dalessio DJ Wolff's Headache and Other Head Pain. 4th ed. Oxford; Oxford University Press 1980
• 7 Kupersmith M J, Hass W K, Chase N E. Isoproterenol treatment of visual symptoms in migraine.  Stroke. 1979;  10 299-305
• 8 Goldner J A, Levitt L P. Treatment of complicated migraine with sublingual nifedipine.  Headache. 1987;  27 484-486
• 9 Rozen T D. Treatment of a prolonged migraineous aura with intravenous furosemide.  Neurology. 2000;  55 732-733
• 10 Read S J, Smith M I, Benham C D, Hunter A J, Parsons A A. Furosemide inhibits regenerative cortical spreading depression in anaesthetized cats.  Cephalalgia. 1997;  17 826-832
• 11 Rothrock J F. Successful treatment of persistent migraine aura with divalproex sodium.  Neurology. 1997;  48 261-262
• 12 Forteza A M, Brozman B, Rabinstein A A, Romano J G, Bradley W G. Acetazolamide for the treatment of migraine with aura in CADASIL.  Neurology. 2001;  57 2144-2145
• 13 Kaube H, Herzog J, Kaufer T, Dichgans M, Diener H C. Aura in some patients with familial hemiplegic migraine can be stopped by intranasal ketamine.  Neurology. 2000;  55 139-141
• 14 Rozen T D. Intravenous prochlorperazine combined with intravenous magnesium sulfate can abort a prolonged migrainous aura both during and outside of pregnancy.  Neurology. 2001;  56(suppl 3) A63
• 15 van der Hel W S, van den Bergh W M, Nicolay K, Tulleken K A, Dijkhuizen R M. Suppression of cortical spreading depressions after magnesium treatment in the rat.  Neuroreport. 1998;  9 2179-2182
• 16 Silberstein S D, Saper J R, Freitag F G. Migraine: diagnosis and treatment. In: Silberstein SD, Lipton RB, Dalessio DJ Wolff's Headache. Oxford; Oxford University Press 2001: 121-237
• 17 Cady R K, Lipton R B, Hall C, Stewart W F, O'Quinn S, Gutterman D. Treatment of mild headache in disabled migraine sufferers: results of the Spectrum Study.  Headache. 2000a;  40 792-797
• 18 Wang S J, Silberstein S D, Young W B. Droperidol treatment of status migrainosus and refractory migraine.  Headache. 1997;  37 377-382
• 19 Gallagher R M. Emergency treatment of intractable migraine.  Headache. 1986;  26 74-75
• 20 Saadah H A. Abortive migraine therapy in the office with dexamethasone and prochlorperazine.  Headache. 1994;  34 366-370
• 21 Stiller J. Management of acute intractable headaches using IV therapy in an office setting.  Headache. 1992;  32 514-515
• 22 Cutrer F M, Mitsikostas D D, Ayata G, Sanchez del Rio M. Attenuation by butalbital of capsaicin-induced c-fos-like immunoreactivity in trigeminal nucleus caudalis.  Headache. 1999;  39 697-704
• 23 Cady R K, Sheftell F, Lipton R B et al.. Effect of early intervention with sumatriptan on migraine pain: retrospective analyses of data from three clinical trials.  Clin Ther. 2000;  22 1035-1048
• 24 Burstein R, Cutrer M F, Yarnitsky D. The development of cutaneous allodynia during a migraine attack clinical evidence for the sequential recruitment of spinal and supraspinal nociceptive neurons in migraine.  Brain. 2000;  123 1703-1709
• 25 Burstein R, Collins B, Jakubowski M. Defeating migraine pain with triptans: a race against the development of cutaneous allodynia.  Ann Neurol. 2004;  55 19-26