Search

Migraine is a chronic neurological disease with heterogeneous characteristics resulting in a range of symptom profiles, burden and disability. It affects nearly 12% of the adult population in Western countries and up to 22% of the Brazilian population, imposing considerable suffering as well as personal, economic and social losses. The pharmacological treatment of migraine is divided into preventive and acute treatment. A better comprehension of migraine pathophysiology, as well as the finding of novel molecular targets, has led to a growing number of upcoming therapeutic opportunities. The same is true of cluster headache, which affects only about 0.07%-0.4% of most populations. This review focuses on current and emerging agents and procedures for the treatment of migraine and cluster headache.

Migraine is an episodic brain disorder that results in significant morbidity. Antiepileptic drugs (neuromodulators) are increasingly recommended for migraine prevention because of placebo-controlled double-blind trials that prove them effective. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is thought to be the pathophysiological correlate of the neurological symptoms in migraine with aura and neuromodulators may act on mechanisms involved in the initiation of CSD itself. Inhibition of trigeminocervical complex directly, or neurons that modulate sensory input, are also plausible mechanisms for the actions of neuromodulators in preventive therapy in migraine. Although it is unlikely that a single phenomenon serves as the only link between migraine and epilepsy, the neuronal hyperexcitability that may contribute to each condition may explain the effect of these drugs for both conditions.