Magnetic Field Device May Zap Away Migraines
- From: rpautrey2 <rpautrey2@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:32:20 -0700 (PDT)
Magnetic Field Device May Zap Away Migraines
Preliminary Tests of a Hand-Held Device to Zap Away Migraines Are
Promising
By AUDREY GRAYSON
ABC News Medical Unit
June 26, 2008—
Some migraine sufferers may be able to avoid medication by zapping
away their pain with a hand-held magnetic device, new research
suggests.
The hair dryer-size device, called a transcranial magnetic stimulation
device, delivers brief magnetic impulses to the brain. The
researchers, who presented their results today at the American
Headache Society meeting in Boston, hypothesized that the magnetic
field pulses could short-circuit the pain signals in the brain.
"I think for migraine, it's extremely likely that this [device] will
become part of the therapeutic armamentarium," said Richard Lipton,
M.D., lead editorial author and professor of neurology, epidemiology
and social medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in
Bronx, N.Y. "I think for some people who don't like taking
prescription medications ... or for people who have side effects to
these drugs, this will prove to be a very useful option."
In the new study, researchers looked at 201 patients who suffered from
a kind of migraine called "migraine with aura" -- one that is often
accompanied by vivid visual disturbances, or blind spots. These kinds
of migraines, which 20 to 30 percent of migraine sufferers experience,
are sometimes accompanied by other neurological symptoms such as
numbness, weakness or unsteadiness.
Half the patients were given a genuine stimulation device, and the
other half an identical-looking device that did not deliver any
magnetic current. The researchers asked the patients to hold the
device to the back of their heads as soon as they began to experience
the aura signaling an oncoming migraine.
They found that 39 percent of those who used the real thing were pain-
free two hours after using the device, compared with only 22 percent
of patients who used the fake device.
Magnets, an Attractive New Option?
Proponents say the new option could be an important addition to
migraine treatment, which more or less comprises three options. The
first is to identify and avoid certain headache triggers, which can
range from diet to the amount of sleep and exercise one gets. The
second approach is called acute treatment, in which a patient takes
medication -- usually a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or a
prescription pain reliever -- at the onset of a headache.
The final option is called preventative treatment, in which a patient
takes prescription medication every day to prevent a headache from
ever occurring. But this approach is generally only taken by those who
suffer from severe migraines on a daily or almost daily basis.
And despite the various treatment options available to migraine
sufferers, most have not found one that works reliably.
But Joel Saper, M.D., one of the researchers involved in the study and
director of the Michigan Head Pain and Neurological Institute in Ann
Arbor, Mich., cautioned that because the use of magnets as an
alternative pain treatment is still a premature area of research,
people should not consider these results as definitive.
"It's important to stress that this is a preliminary study, not one of
the final, large, pivotal studies which change the course of our
thinking," Saper said.
Part of this uncertainty may be because headache experts are still
unsure of what exactly causes these migraines. This makes it difficult
to offer migraine sufferers a treatment plan that is guaranteed to
prevent 100 percent of their pain 100 percent of the time.
Still, Saper said, the findings hold promise.
"The research is promising, and if [this technique] comes to continued
success in further studies, then it will help some people who don't
benefit from other therapies or can't benefit from other therapies,
and maybe even expand into other areas where these treatments may be
helpful," he said.
The treatment may be welcomed especially by the significant subset of
migraine patients who either do not respond to traditional
prescription medications or experience negative side effects from the
drugs. For these patients, complementary and alternative medicine
experts have been studying the use of magnets for the purpose of pain
relief for years.
For instance, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association in 1982 found that electromagnets can be used to speed the
healing of bone fractures.
Another study published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences in
2000 found that the stimulation device has an effect on the central
nervous system that might relieve chronic pain.
Woodson Merrell, M.D., chairman of the department of integrative
medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, said that the
use of the stimulation device and other therapies involving magnets
will allow many migraine patients to avoid prescription medication and
the side effects associated with these drugs.
"I think the TMS device definitely will and should join the treatment
arsenal for migraines, and probably many other problems such as
superficial sprains or fractures," Merrell said.
"What's to lose with this treatment? It's not like you're giving
patients some biological agent that could have sweeping biological
effects and could interfere with other medications a patient is
taking, or simply bring on negative side effects," Merrell added. "A
therapy using magnets is inexpensive and virtually free of side
effects."
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5255108&page=1
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