Acupuncture versus topiramate in chronic migraine prophylaxis: A randomized clinical trial
Cephalalgia, 10/24/2011
Clinical Article
Yang CP et al. – Authors suggest that acupuncture could be considered a treatment option for chronic migraine (CM) patients willing to undergo this prophylactic treatment, even for those patients with medication overuse.
Methods- A total of 66 consecutive and prospective CM patients were randomly divided into two treatment arms:
- Acupuncture group: acupuncture administered in 24 sessions over 12 weeks (n = 33).
- And topiramate group: a 4–week titration, initiated at 25 mg/day and increased by 25 mg/day weekly to a maximum of 100 mg/day followed by an 8–week maintenance period (n = 33).
- A significantly larger decrease in the mean monthly number of moderate/severe headache days (primary end point) from 20.2 ± 1.5 days to 9.8 ± 2.8 days was observed in the acupuncture group compared with 19.8 ± 1.7 days to 12.0 ± 4.1 days in the topiramate group (p < .01) Significant differences favoring acupuncture were also observed for all secondary efficacy variables.
- These significant differences still existed when authors focused on those patients who were overusing acute medication.
- Adverse events occurred in 6% of acupuncture group and 66% of topiramate group.
