Health-related quality of life measures and psychiatric comorbidity in patients with migraine.

Background And Purpose: The identification of factors associated to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures in patients with migraine has major implications in terms of prognosis and treatment. This study aimed at investigating associations between HRQoL and comorbid mood and anxiety disorders.

Methods: Consecutive adult outpatients with a diagnosis of migraine with or without aura were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.

5-hydroxytryptamine1B receptor and triptan response in migraine, lack of association with common polymorphisms.

Triptans mediate vasoconstriction of meningeal vessels via stimulation of vascular 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)(1B) receptors. These drugs are recommended for acute treatment in patients with moderate-to-severe migraine attacks and in those patients with mild-to-moderate headache that are not controlled adequately by other agents. Yet, approximately 25% of all migraine users and 40% of all attacks do not respond to triptan treatment.

Combination of tizanidine and amitriptyline in the prophylaxis of chronic tension-type headache: evaluation of efficacy and impact on quality of life.

Chronic tension type headache (CTTH) has a strong impact on the Quality Of Life (QOL). We carried out an open-label randomized clinical trial on 18 patients with CTTH in order to compare two different regimens of pharmacological prophylaxis: the first provided for the use of amitriptyline 20 mg/d during 3 months, while in the second we combined amitriptyline with tizanidine (4 mg/d) in the first 3 weeks of treatment. Our hypothesis is that the combination therapy may guarantee an improvement of QOL even in the early stages of treatment.

Chronic post-traumatic headache associated with minor cranial trauma: a description of cephalalgic patterns.

We studied a group of 93 patients who had not previously suffered headache and who were consecutively admitted to the Emergency Department of the hospitals of Novara and Borgomanero, Italy because of a cranial trauma definable as minor according to the current International Headache Society (IHS) criteria. Two weeks after admission, all patients underwent a semi-structured interview which revealed that 24 (25.8%) had headache; 21 of these (22.

Idiopathic generalized epilepsy: magnetic stimulation of motor cortex time-locked and unlocked to 3-Hz spike-and-wave discharges.

In 20 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy who showed typical 3-Hz spike-and-wave (SW) EEG complexes, we studied the corticospinal motor output with a transcranial electromagnetic stimulator. First we measured the corticospinal discharge threshold for both hemispheres in the patient group and compared it with that of 10 age- and sex-matched volunteers. Threshold was significantly higher in the patient group, regardless of whether subjects were treated with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).