New Device Zaps Migraines Before They Start
The possibility of easy, sweet relief for migraine pain was the subject of conversation at the recent annual meeting of the American Headache Society (AHS) in Boston. Dr. Richard B. Lipton, representing Neuralieve, a company that specializes in medical technologies, reported the completion of a study that tested a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device for use in patients experiencing migraine with aura. The device proved to be effective in reducing the pain of migraine headaches and was even able to stop them before the pain developed.
Lipton’s research team used the portable device in 16 centers where patients with migraine with aura were treated. The device was found to eliminate pain at intervals of 2, 24, and 48 hours after treatment and with absolutely no drugs required. Lipton is a professor and department head for the Epidemiology and Population Health division of New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
TMS has been safely used for many years to study the brain. The Neuralieve device emits a magnet pulse through the skull to induce electric current. When applied during a pre-migraine phase known as cortical spreading depression (CSD), the pulse was able to effectively alter abnormal brain waves that trigger a migraine headache. The device not only preempts the headache, it can reduce the length and severity of the headache as well.
More than 30 million Americans report migraine headaches and 30% of them are migraines with aura, or visual disturbances caused by neurobiological malfunction that causes the attack. Some people suffer migraines without aura while others experience both types of migraine episode. The TMS device is effective in the drug-free treatment of the migraine with aura type.
Migraines are most commonly treated with a class of drugs called triptans, which are not effective for about 40% of the patients who try them and their side effects include serious cardiovascular adversity.
Neuralieve has notified the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of its interest in marketing the portable device on a prescription basis. While it is awaiting regulatory clearance, the company will continue testing the device for use in a larger number of patients.
According to the National Headache Foundation, people suffering from migraine pain lose 157 million days of work each year, at a cost of about $13 billion.
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Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation can reach deeper into the brain than conventional tms. Conventional TMS can only penetrate approximately 1-2 cm into the brain. Deep TMS may have utility for a variety of different disorders including migraines, schizophrenia and depression. It will be able to selectively increase or decrease activity in almost any brain region.