• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Thursday, October 9, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

New Treatment Breaks Migraine Cycle

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 1, 2015
in Health
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

An innovative interventional radiology treatment has been found to offer chronic migraine sufferers sustained relief of their headaches, according to new research. Clinicians have used a treatment called image-guided, intranasal sphenopalatine ganglion blocks to give patients enough ongoing relief that they required less medication to relieve migraine pain.

migrane

“Migraine headaches are one of the most common, debilitating diseases in the Unites States, and the cost and side effects of medicine to address migraines can be overwhelming,” said Kenneth Mandato, M.D., the study’s lead researcher and an interventional radiologist at Albany Medical Center. “Intranasal sphenopalatine ganglion blocks are image-guide, targeted, breakthrough treatments. They offer a patient-centered therapy that has the potential to break the migraine cycle and quickly improve patients’ quality of life,” he added.

Mandato and his team conducted a retrospective analysis of 112 patients suffering migraine or cluster headaches. Patients reported the severity of their headaches on a visual analogue scale (VAS), ranging from 1-10, to quantify the degree of debilitation experienced from the migraine. During the treatment, which is minimally invasive and does not involve needles touching the patient, researchers inserted a spaghetti-sized catheter through the nasal passages and administered 4 percent lidocaine to the sphenopalatine ganglion, a nerve bundle just behind the nose associated with migraines.

Before treatment, patients reported an average VAS score of 8.25, with scores greater than 4 at least 15 days per month. The day after the SPG block patients’ VAS scores were cut in half, to an average of 4.10. Thirty days after the procedure, patients reported an average score of 5.25, a 36 percent decrease from pretreatment. Additionally, 88 percent of patients indicated that they required less or no migraine medication for ongoing relief.

“Administration of lidocaine to the sphenopalatine ganglion acts as a ‘reset button’ for the brain’s migraine circuitry,” noted Mandato. “When the initial numbing of the lidocaine wears off, the migraine trigger seems to no longer have the maximum effect that it once did. Some patients have reported immediate relief and are making fewer trips to the hospital for emergency headache medicine,” he said. Because of the minimally invasive nature of the treatment and the medication’s safety profile, Mandato believes patients can have the SPG block repeated, if needed.

While patients reported relief from their migraines, Mandato added that SPG blocks are not a cure for migraines; they are a temporary solution as are other current treatment options for chronic headaches. Because of the minimally invasive nature of the treatment and the medication’s safety profile, Mandato believes patients can have the SPG block repeated, if needed.

To further study SPG blocks, Mandato will track how the 112 patients have responded six months after treatment. He is also considering conducting a double-blind, prospective study to more rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of SPG blocks in treating chronic migraines.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Society of Interventional Radiology.

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Hosts 2025 International Symposium on Advances in Mental Health Research

October 9, 2025

Accelerated Evolution Could Enable Bacteria to Establish Themselves in the Gut Microbiome, UCLA Researchers Reveal

October 9, 2025

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Honors Five Top Psychiatric Researchers with 2025 Outstanding Achievement Prizes

October 9, 2025

Urological Models Verified with Human Penile Tissue Tests

October 9, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    1175 shares
    Share 469 Tweet 293
  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    101 shares
    Share 40 Tweet 25
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    96 shares
    Share 38 Tweet 24
  • Ohio State Study Reveals Protein Quality Control Breakdown as Key Factor in Cancer Immunotherapy Failure

    82 shares
    Share 33 Tweet 21

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Hosts 2025 International Symposium on Advances in Mental Health Research

Scientists Develop Model to Advance Sustainable Design, Groundwater Management, and Nuclear Waste Storage

Optimizing Lithium Extraction from Oilfield Brine

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 63 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.