Intravenous lidocaine in the treatment of refractory headache: a retrospective case series.
BACKGROUND
New treatments are needed to treat chronic daily headache (CDH) and chronic cluster headache (CCH). New treatments are needed to treat this population and intravenous (IV) lidocaine is a novel treatment for CDH.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to examine the use of IV lidocaine for refractory CDH patients in an inpatient setting.


METHODS
This was an open-label, retrospective, uncontrolled study of IV lidocaine for 68 intractable headache patients in an inpatient setting. We reviewed the medical records of patients receiving IV lidocaine between February 6, 2003 and June 29, 2005.


RESULTS
Pretreatment headache scores averaged 7.9 on an 11-point scale and posttreatment scores averaged 3.9 representing an average change of 4. Average length of treatment was 8.5 days. Lidocaine infusion was generally well tolerated with a low incidence of adverse events leading to discontinuation of treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests benefit of lidocaine treatment and the need for further prospective analyses. The mechanism of lidocaine in treating headache is unknown.
Rosen
Noah
N
Jefferson Headache Center-Department of Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Marmura
Michael
M
Abbas
Muhammad
M
Silberstein
Stephen
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D020773:Headache Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008012:Lidocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D008012:Lidocaine