Novel combination therapy safe and effective for migraine, Read for more details!

The combination of peripheral neural blockades with onabotulinumtoxinA injections was found to be a safe and well-tolerated therapy for chronic migraines, as per the outcomes of a retrospective chart review put out in the ‘Headache-The Journal of Head and Face Pain’.

This retrospective analysis by Christopher C Anderson et al. piloted at a leading outpatient headache clinic over 16 months, compared patients with migraine receiving both treatments in a single visit to those receiving each treatment individually. 

The objective was to assess the safety and tolerability of administering both treatments simultaneously during a single outpatient visit. The study reviewed 375 patients who met the inclusion criteria (i.e. 18 years and older patients and; getting both peripheral neural blockades and onabotulinumtoxinA injections for chronic migraine). Patients were matched by age and sex to ensure reliable comparisons. The number of adverse events in the combination group compared to the single control was the primary safety outcomes. The Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (Grade 1 Mild Event to Grade 5 Death) was used in case of incidence of adverse events.

Overall, 131 patients after receiving the combination were compared to 131 patients receiving onabotulinumtoxinA monotherapy and; 104 patients after receiving the combination were compared to 104 patients receiving only peripheral neural blockades following the age and sex matching of controls. No significant changes in overall adverse events amongst the groups were found. While there was a slight increase in adverse events leading to treatment cessation in the combination group compared to the onabotulinumtoxinA group, this difference was insignificant.