title: Day-hospital withdrawal for chronic migraine with medication overuse: results at 3 years follow-up.
abstract: Patients with chronic headache and medication overuse are particularly difficult to treat, with no one approach being universally accepted. Some type of withdrawal program, however, is typically implemented before beginning a pharmacological prophylaxis treatment. Different withdrawal modalities have been performed for managing these patients: at first step, in-patient withdrawal has been confirmed effective in preceding clinical experiences. In recent years, new modalities for withdrawal have been developed as day-hospital setting. Purpose of this study was to determine the clinical course of a sample of chronic migraine patients with medication overuse 3 years after day-hospital withdrawal. A group of 202 patients were treated. Patients were suffering from chronic migraine with medication overuse according with IHS criteria. All patients were submitted to a day-hospital withdrawal and then they were followed with meetings every 3 months until the first year and then every 6 months until the last follow-up 3 years after withdrawal. Eighty patients achieved the last follow-up meeting 3 years after withdrawal. Patients clinically improved, significantly, both for days of headache per month and consumption of medications per month. From these results, the day-hospital setting for withdrawal, followed by periodic clinical meetings, seems to be effective for this category of patients to improve significantly at long-term headache frequency and analgesics intake.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Headache Unit, C. Besta Neurological Institute and Foundation, Via Celoria 11, 20133 Milan, Italy. grazzi.l@istituto-besta.it
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grazzi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Andrasik
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Usai
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bussone
mesh_terms: D000700:Analgesics / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000188:drug therapy; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics