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Headache units have come into being to respond to the need to address the treatment of patients with complex headaches in a multidisciplinary manner. Although headaches are one of the most prevalent medical pathologies, it is surprising how little is being done to foster the development of such units. Within the multidisciplinary organisation, the role of the neurologist with adequate training in this field is essential. He or she is the person responsible for receiving, directing, supervising and coordinating the treatment, together with other medical specialties. The basic core of the team should consist of a psychiatrist, psychologist and physiotherapist. Their joint coordinated action generates an objective improvement in the pain over and beyond that achieved with each isolated treatment.

Introduction and Aims: This study was aimed determining the effectiveness, tolerance and satisfaction of patients with migraine as regards different triptans, according to the characteristics of their attacks. At the same time it sought to establish a predictive model that can be used to recommend one or another, depending on those characteristics., Patients and Methods: Retrospective observation-based study conducted in headache units in a number of different centres. Patients included in the study were those with migraine who used the same triptan to treat their attacks. Data concerning preference, effectiveness, speed and tolerance were analysed., Results: The analysis included 160 patients (88 females), with a mean age of 42.92 years. The most commonly used triptans were eletriptan, almotriptan and rizatriptan. Both patients and doctors reported a high degree of satisfaction (88% and 65%) with the triptan that was used. In the surveys on preference, patients preferred their current triptan to the previous one (83%) or to non-specific drugs. The overall score on a visual analogue scale was above 7 for all the triptans, without any differences from one to another. On analysing the use of a particular triptan depending on the characteristics of the attacks, no statistically significant differences were found., Conclusions: In this selected group of patients, triptans are a treatment that patients claim to be very satisfied with. Although there are no overall differences in the scores among different triptans, the fact that certain triptans are used more by patients after previous experiences with others suggests that they are more effective. We did not find any parameter that predicts the use of a particular triptan.