ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana - Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2021 July-August;180(7-8):333-40

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.20.04260-6

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Long-term results of therapeutic local anesthesia (neural therapy) in migraine patients: a randomized-controlled-single blind trial

Julide ONCU ✉, Gozde BARAN, Sadiye MURAT, Turgay ALTINBILEK, Hasan K. ALPTEKIN

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Şişli Etfal Teaching Hospital, Instanbul, Turkey

BACKGROUND: Although several studies were present about complementary and alternative medicine methods in migraine, there is no study investigating the effect of neuraltherapy on migraine in the literature. Our aim was to assess the efficacy of a neuraltherapy (therapeutic local anesthesia) in migraine according to the rules of Huneke, compared with pharmacological therapy of migraine during 6 months.
METHODS: This study was a prospective, randomized, multicenter, single-blind, controlled, clinical trial. 85 patients were screened, 62 patients with migraine were randomly assigned neuraltherapy (NT) (N.=33) and control (C) (N.=29) groups. All patients continued their ongoing medical treatment. Patients received ten sessions of neuraltherapy in 6 weeks. Primary outcome was general headache severity according to visual analog scale (VAS), migraine disability assesment scale (MIDAS), degree of symptom reduction, weekly number of pain killer usage. Secondary outcome was the general health assessment by Likert scale. Patients were assesed before treatment and after treatment at 1st,3rdand 6thmonths.
RESULTS: Within the group-analysis showed that, compared to baseline, there were statistically significant improvement present in VAS-pain, MIDAS, general health assessment by Likert, degree of symptom reduction (P<0.01). And highly significant decrease in the number of analgesic tablets/week in NT group (P=0.000) after treatment (at 1st,3rd,6thmonths). In control group, there were also some significant improvement in VAS-pain, MIDAS, Likert scores (P<0.05). However, the number of analgesic tablets/week remained same (P>0.05). Between the group analysis showed that there was significant difference regarding VAS-pain, and the number of analgesic tablets/week used at 1^st, 3^rd and 6^th months on behalf of NT group.
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study showing efficacy of NT both in short and long-term. The results suggest that neuraltherapy is effective especially in reduction of analgesic usage without any adverse event. Therefore, NT might be considered as a safe and effective alternative treatment modality for migraine patients

KEY WORDS: Migraine disorders; Anesthetics, local; Therapeutics