Cluster Headache News Briefs

Dr. Amnon Mosek, of the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, presented the results of a cluster study to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. His team reviewed the medical charts of 142 patients from 3 large headache clinics in Israel. They found that 19% were women.

That figure may be slightly higher than one would suppose, since the majority of cluster sufferers are young men, but the odd thing is that 7 of the 26 female patients had their first cluster headache after the age of 50. In fact, their mean age of onset was 61, but their symptoms were the same as those of young male patients. Dr. Mosek has noticed a similar phenomenon of late onset migraine in women.

Meanwhile, in Parma, Italy, a team from the Institute of Neurology studied 482 cluster headache patients (374 male and 108 female). They noted a reduction in male:female ratio and decided it's due to more women developing clusters, rather than fewer men.

This study showed that lifestyle changes may be largely responsible. They are looking at smoking in particular, but most study participants had at least one thing in common, consumption of alcohol and/or cigarettes, sometimes to excess.

The news in cluster treatments is mixed. Zolmitriptan (sold as Zomig) is being touted as an effective treatment for clusters. One advantage it has over sumatriptan is that it can be taken in oral form, whereas sumatriptan must be injected. Even better news is that Astra-Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, which makes Zomig, is looking at a nasal spray formulation of this drug. A nasal spray would work faster, yet less of the drug would be absorbed by the body.

In a study conducted in Canada, the UK, and Sweden, 10 mg of Zomig taken at the onset of a cluster headache relieved the pain for 47% of the patients. The word from cluster expert Dr. Peter Goadsby, of the Institute of Neurology in London, is that Zomig works well for episodic clusters, but unfortunately not for chronic clusters.

The next item is one that kind of gives me the creeps. As an arthritis sufferer, I've used capsaicin successfully for pain, but it's certainly hot stuff. Capsaicin is found in chili peppers and other members of that plant family, which explains why it feels so hot on the skin.

Well, at the University of Toronto's division of Neurology and Chronic Pain they've given cluster sufferers a special preparation of capsaicin in both nostrils once daily for 5 days.

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