In collaboration with some of the leading headache centres in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, we have established new guidelines for the treatment of migraine attacks and the prevention of migraine. A thorough literature research of the last 10 years has been the basis of the current recommendations. At the beginning, we present therapeutic novelties, followed by a summary of all recommendations. After an introduction, we cover topics like drug therapy and practical experience, non-effective medication, migraine prevention, interventional methods, non-medicational and psychological methods for prevention and therapies without proof of efficacy.

Besides pharmacological and interventional possibilities nonpharmacological options, deriving from behavioural approaches may be helpful in the treatment of migraine. Already consulting a patient reduces frequency of attacks. Relaxation (especially progressive muscle relaxation), endurance sports, and biofeedback as well as cognitive behavioural therapy are effective in treatment of migraine. The combination of these treatment options also with pharmacological treatment increase the positive effects.

BackgroundCentral information processing, visible in evoked potentials like the contingent negative variation (CNV) is altered in migraine patients who exhibit higher CNV amplitudes and a reduced habituation. Both characteristics were shown to be normalized under different prophylactic migraine treatment options whereas Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) has not yet been examined. We investigated the effect of PMR on clinical course and CNV in migraineurs in a quasi-randomized, controlled trial.MethodsThirty-five migraine patients and 46 healthy controls were examined. Sixteen migraineurs and 21 healthy participants conducted a 6-week PMR-training with CNV-measures before and after as well as three months after PMR-training completion. The remaining participants served as controls. The clinical course was analyzed with two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures. Pre-treatment CNV differences between migraine patients and healthy controls were examined with t-tests for independent measures. The course of the CNV-parameters was examined with three-way ANOVAs with repeated measures.ResultsAfter PMR-training, migraine patients showed a significant reduction of migraine frequency. Preliminary to the PMR-training, migraine patients exhibited higher amplitudes in the early component of the CNV (iCNV) and the overall CNV (oCNV) than healthy controls, but no differences regarding habituation. After completion of the PMR-training, migraineurs showed a normalization of the iCNV amplitude, but neither of the oCNV nor of the habituation coefficient.ConclusionsThe results confirm clinical efficacy of PMR for migraine prophylaxis. The pre-treatment measure confirms altered cortical information processing in migraine patients. Regarding the changes in the iCNV after PMR-training, central nervous mechanisms of the PMR-effect are supposed which may be mediated by the serotonin metabolism.

Cortical habituation in episodic migraine patients without medication overuse headache (MOH), recorded by contingent negative variation (CNV), is often reduced compared with healthy controls. There is evidence that with longer duration of migraine disease (DOD) amplitudes and habituation of CNV become progressively abnormal. The aim of the study was to examine habituation characteristics of contingent negative variation in episodic migraine patients suffering from short- and long-lasting migraine compared to matched healthy controls. 32 migraine patients without aura and without MOH diagnosed according to the revised ICHD-II criteria and 16 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. According to DOD, the total sample of migraine patients was divided into two groups (group a: DOD <121 months, n = 17 subjects, group b: DOD >120 months, n = 15 subjects). Both migraine groups did not differ in the number of days of migraine and the duration of attacks. Overall CNV and initial CNV differed significantly between migraine patients and controls, whereas the former produced more negative amplitudes. In the migraine group lack of or deficient habituation occurred, whilst controls showed habituation. There were middle range correlations between the DOD and overall CNV, initial CNV, and y-intercept. Patients suffering from long-lasting migraine produced higher CNV amplitudes with a higher y-intercept. The results are interpreted as "maladaptive plasticity" with a risen intercept in long-lasting migraine.

The superiority of bicarbonate dialysis (Bi HD) over acetate dialysis (Ac HD) using a high sodium dialysate has not been established to our knowledge. We compared to Bi HD to Ac HD over 6 weeks each in ten stable patients using a double-blind crossover design and a dialysate sodium concentration of 140 mEq/liter. The dialyzer, delivery system, and disalysate constituents were identical except for the substitution of Bi or Ac. Interdialytic weight gain, pre- and post-HD blood pressures, and heart rates were also comparable in the two protocols. Beginning of the week pre-HD serum Bi was greater during Bi HD than Ac HD (19.1 +/- 0.9 vs. 15.1 +/- 0.8 mEq/liter, P less than 0.001); post-HD Bi values were also higher during Bi HD. Similarly, pre-HD pH was also greater with Bi HD 7.40 +/- 0.012 vs. 7.35 +/- 0.001 U, P less than 0.01). The number of adverse symptoms and signs were similar during each protocol (2.0 +/- 0.65 for Bi HD vs. 2.5 +/- 0.5 for Ac HD episodes/patient/6 weeks, NS). However, fewer therapeutic interventions were required during the Bi HD protocol (1.5 +/- 0.43 vs. 3.1 +/- 0.6 treatments/patient/6 weeks, P less than 0.02).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)