title: Long-term benefits of botulinum toxin type A (BOTOX) in chronic daily headache: a five-year long experience.
abstract: Botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) has been recently suggested as prophylaxis therapy for the treatment of primary headache chronic forms. Several studies on its efficacy are available, but results are often contradictory and not univocal. The effects of BoNTA on chronic forms of both tension- type headache and migraine have been investigated. In this study we introduce our five-year long experience with BoNT-A (Botox, Allergan, Irvine, CA). The employed dosage was 100 U and the Fixed Sites-Fixed Doses (FSFD) protocol was used. The period of study was April 2001 to July 2006. A sum of 1347 patients suffering from chronic daily headache (CDH) were treated. We registered in these patients the number of headache days per month and observed their reduction in relation to the number of injections. The best results were found after 12 months of treatment, with patients being free of attacks 23 days per month. The BoNT-A treatment was safe and well tolerated, as only 1.6% of patients reported adverse events, and they were all mild and transient. In conclusion, BoNT-A therapy appears to be an efficacious new therapeutic choice in the prophylaxis of CDH, especially for patients not responding to previous prophylactic treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 2nd School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Via di Grottarossa 1035, I-00189, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Ivano
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Farinelli
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coloprisco
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Filippis
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martelletti
mesh_terms: D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D005260:Female; D020773:Headache Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009465:Neuromuscular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D009465:Neuromuscular Agents; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A