Migraine is one of the most common disorders in the world. To relieve sometimes severe pain, American researchers have developed a new radiological treatment.
15% of the world’s population suffers from migraine. Characterized by a headache that can be very painful, migraine results from a mixture of complex genetic and environmental factors. There are many treatments today, but none is yet 100% effective.
The spread of this disease globally makes it a research priority for the medical community. With the result of sometimes significant advances. Recently, a team of American scientists took an interest in a new radiological treatment that seems to be working. The process presented at the annual scientific gathering of the Society of Interventional Radiology (“Société d’Intervention Radiologique”), allows 88% of patients who have followed the proposed treatment to no longer feel the need to take their conventional anti-migraine medications, or even not to need it at all.
An “average pain of 8.25”
112 patients with chronic migraines participated in the experiment, conducted by researchers at Albany Medical Center and New York Empire State college. This is an innovative treatment that involves inserting a small catheter into the patient’s nose to deliver a molecule, lidocaine, to the sphenopalatine ganglion, which is located behind the nasal wall and is often associated with migraines.
The effectiveness of the treatment was measured very simply. Before starting the process, patients were asked to rate the severity of their migraine on a scale of 1 to 10, in order to determine how much they were affected by the headaches. The average score was 8.25.
The day after treatment, they had to start again, and this time the average was 4.10. A month later it was 5.25. A significant improvement therefore, and which remains over time.
These radiology treatments therefore have definite potential. Dr Kenneth Mandato, in charge of the study, wants to see the patients again six months after the experience, in order to monitor progress over a longer time, but he believes that radiology could provide relief to the thousands of people, handicapped by chronic migraines, all over the world.
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