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(June 22, 2006) -- A machine no larger than a hair dryer may be able to bring relief to migraine headache sufferers if they use it early enough.
It's called a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device, and it is able to interrupt the development of migraines, according to its maker, who introduced it to data presented at the American Headache Society's annual meeting on June 21, 2006 in Los Angeles.
The TMS device used in this study has been approved by the FDA as an investigational device. It sends an electric current through a metal coil, creating a magnetic field that activates nerve cells in the brain.
Scientists believe that migraine attacks start because of nerve cell hyper-excitability, which is followed by fatigue and malfunction of the nerve cells, or neurons. These phases seem to correlate with aura (changes in vision before the actual pain begins), which is experienced by about 20% of the 28 million Americans who suffer migraine headaches. The study was designed to measure this correlation.
The study, involving 43 people who had migraines with aura, was designed to see if TMS had any effect. Participants were told to give themselves two pulses to the back of the head at the first sign of an aura.
The results were definitive. Seventy-four percent of people in the TMS group said they had no or only a mild headache two hours after using the device, compared with 45% in the control group. Participants also reported a reduction in noise and light sensitivity: 74% of people in the TMS group experienced a reduction in light sensitivity while 75% experienced less noise sensitivity. In the placebo group, only 20% or so experienced such reductions.
A larger study of TMS involving nine medical centers and 200 patients will begin in July 2006, according to Dr. Yousef Mohammad, principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of neurology at Ohio State University Medical Center. "If we can interrupt this with two pulses of magnetic stimulation, we can abort the headache," he added. |
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