Title:Migraine Attack Treatment : A Tailor-made Suit, Not One Size Fits All
Volume: 9
Issue: 1
Author(s): Robert Belvis, Natalia Mas and Azahara Aceituno
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Analgesics, ergot alkaloids, migraine attack, NSAIDs, triptans.
Abstract: About 15% of people in the world suffer migraine attacks. Migraine can induce a great impact in the quality of
life, and the costs of medical care and loss of productivity can be also high. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
(NSAIDs) are the best treatment in mild-to-moderate migraine attacks and triptans are the first line option in the acute
treatment of moderate-to-severe migraine attacks. At present, there are seven marketed triptans: sumatriptan, rizatriptan,
zolmitriptan, eletriptan, naratriptan, almotriptan and frovatriptan. Obviously, every drug presents different pharmacokinetic
and pharmacodynamics properties and, moreover, some triptans have several formulations. The prescription of one
of these seven triptans for a specified patient is based in the drug profile: efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
Other data to take account in the final prescription are clinical characteristics of the migraine attack (speed of
onset, intensity of pain, lasting of the attack) and patient characteristics as working habits, life style or medical history. It
is therefore mandatory to perform an individualization of the treatment of migraine attack.
In recent years, several new patents of drugs have been registered in the treatment of migraine attack, although most of
these are already known drugs that only provide new routes of administration. We present an update on the treatment of
the migraine attack
