Iranian South Medical Journal (Oct 2024)
Response to treatment with Botulinum toxin-A in patients with Refractory Chronic Migraine
Abstract
Background: Migraine is one of the common causes of headache, and refractory migraine imposes a significant eco-nomic burden; therefore, it is important to find a proper treatment method for this condition. In this study, we evaluated the response to treatment with botulinum toxin A in patients with refractory chronic mi-graine. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two patients with refractory chronic migraine were enrolled and all data about age, gender, type of migraine, the frequency, severity, and duration of migraine episodes and frequency of need for analgesics before, one week and two weeks after Botox injection were recorded in a checklist, and the degree of re-covery and the frequency of complications after Botox injection were assessed. Results: After the Botox injections, the frequency, severity, and duration of migraine episodes and the frequency of analgesic use decreased (P<0.001), which were unrelated to age. Migraine episodes in men and also temporal, posterior, and frontal migraines showed greater reduction. Alterations in the severity and dura-tion of episodes and need for analgesics were not gender-related, but in patients with temporal, posterior, and frontal migraines, they showed a greater decrease. More than 70% of the patients had good or excel-lent recovery. Conclusion: Botox injection reduced the frequency, severity and duration of the migraine episodes, and need for anal-gesics two weeks after the injection, and a large number of patients reported feelings of recovery, with minor and transient post-injection complications. The variables which showed the greatest reduction in-cluded the frequency, duration and severity of migraine episodes and need for analgesics in temporal, posterior and frontal migraines and the frequency of episodes in the male patients.
