A new study has revealed that nasal spray is safe and effective at quickly treating cluster headaches, the most painful form of headaches.
The double-blind trial had 52 participants with cluster headache who used five or 10 milligrams of zolmitriptan nasal spray or placebo as a therapy for 151 separate cluster headache attacks.In the study, 63 pct of people who were given higher dose of the drug had relief within 30 minutes, when compared to 50 percent of people taking lower dose of the spray and 30 percent in the placebo group.
“This is a significant finding and the main endpoint of our study. The 10 milligram dose worked as quickly as 10 minutes in some patients,” said study author Alan M. Rapoport, MD, with The New England Center for Headache in Stamford, CT, and Clinical Professor of Neurology at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles. Rapoport is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.
“Cluster headache is an extremely severe headache disorder with enormous unmet treatment needs. Few medications for cluster headache have been systematically tested, and only one, which involves an injection of sumatriptan, has been FDA approved,’ said Rapoport.
Cluster headache is a relatively rare form of headache. Men are three to four times more likely to suffer from cluster headaches than women. The pain is considered to be the most severe of the primary headache disorders and often peaks within five minutes and remains severe for about one and up to three hours.
The pain is usually associated with neurological findings such as a droopy eyelid, small pupil, red and tearing eye, and stuffed and running nostril. All of the symptoms usually occur on the same side as the headache pain.
Advertisement
“While the FDA has not approved zolmitriptan nasal spray for use in cluster headaches, it may someday be considered a first-line therapy.” Side effects were mild and no serious adverse events were reported during the study,” Rapoport added.
Advertisement
Source-ANI
LIN/J
