Migraine: a comprehensive review of new treatment options.
Headaches are among the most common complaints reported to health care professionals and are classified by the International Headache Society as migraine, tension-type, or cluster, with additional subtypes. Classification and etiology of headache should be determined after thorough review of the patient's history. Once diagnosed, migraine can be treated by preventive or abortive measures. Recent developments add new options, including availability of drugs for intranasal administration (sumatriptan, dihydroergotamine) and 5-HT1B/1D agonists (rizatriptan, zolmitriptan, naratriptan, eletriptan). Although placebo-controlled trials are available, few comparative clinical trials of these agents have been conducted; however, important pharmacologic, pharmacokinetic, and clinical differences exist among the drugs.
Weitzel
K W
KW
Department of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Richmond 23298-0533, USA.
Thomas
M L
ML
Small
R E
RE
Goode
J V
JV
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D010919:Placebos; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D017366:Serotonin Receptor Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D010919:Placebos; D017366:Serotonin Receptor Agonists; D012701:Serotonin