title: The design and protocol of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many studies have already reported encouraging results in the prophylactic therapy of migraine by acupuncture, but there seems to be a lack of high quality randomized controlled trials from China. We design and perform a randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture compared with flunarizine in the prophylactic therapy of patients with migraine without aura in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  This trial is a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial. The 140 migraine patients are randomly allocated to two different groups. The acupuncture groups (n = 70) is treated with acupuncture and placebo medicine; while the control group (n = 70) is treated with sham acupuncture and medicine (Flunarizine). Both Flunarizine and placebo are taken 10 mg once per night for the first 2 weeks and then 5 mg once per night for the next 2 weeks. Patients in both groups receive 12 sessions of verum/sham acupuncture in 4 weeks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study design and the long term clinical practice of acupuncturists guarantee a high external validity for the results. The results of our trial will be helpful to supply the evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis in China.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, PR China. aquazhang@163.com
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Linpeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Huilin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jingdao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jinghong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yi
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002681:China; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005260:Female; D005444:Flunarizine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020325:Migraine with Aura / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D005444:Flunarizine