James R. Couch

Amitriptyline in the prophylaxis of migraine: Effectiveness and relationship of antimigraine and antidepressant effects

Amitriptyline was evaluated as a prophylactic antimigraine agent in 110 patients with severe migraine. This agent improved the migraine more than 50 percent in 72 percent of patients and more than 80 percent in 57 percent of patients. Most of the 31 patients with less than 50 percent improvement had virtually no response. Depression, measured with the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, was absent in 40 patients, borderline in 53, and moderate to severe in 17. Overall, depression ratings improved minimally with therapy. There was a weak relationship between improvement in depression and improvement in migraine. Subgroups with a stronger correlation of these could not be found. This work suggests that amitriptyline is effective in migraine prophylaxis and that it has a primary effect on migraine that is relatively independent of its antidepressant action.

Platelet aggregability in migraine.

Employing optical density methods, platelet aggregation in response to 1.275, 1.7, and 3.4 μM adenosine diphosphate was tested in 46 patients with migraine and 46 controls matched by age, sex, and race. The migraine patients demonstrated platelet hyperaggregability when compared with controls, as manifested by a lower threshold forthe platelet-release reaction and increased platelet stickiness following aggregation. There was no correlation of platelet hyperaggregability with the severity of migraine or with the occurrence of migraine-associated neurologic symptoms, suggesting that platelet hyperaggregability is a concomitant feature of the migraine syndrome but not dependent on the occurrence of the actual headache. As platelet hyperaggregability may predispose to development of intravascular platelet aggregates or mural thrombi, the hyperaggregability found here may help explain the increased incidence of stroke and heart attack in migraine patients that has been reported elsewhere.

Platelet aggregation, stroke, and transient ischemic attack in middle‐aged and elderly patients

Platelet aggregation was studied with optical density methods in a group of 39 patients with stroke or transient ischemic attacks (TIA) and in age, sex, and race-matched controls. The patients were divided at age 60 into young stroke patients and young controls (18 pairs) and old stroke patients and old controls (21 pairs). A semiquantitative measure of the threshold of phase II of platelet aggregation and extent of disaggregation 3 minutes after peak aggregation were used as an index of platelet aggregability. Aggregability was significantly greater in young stroke patients than in young controls. Aggregability was similar in old stroke patients and old controls. Both old stroke patients and old controls were hyperaggregable compared with young controls, indicating that aggregability rises with age. This suggests that platelet aggregability is a significant risk factor for stroke but is relatively more important in the younger than in the older stroke patient.

Gliomatosis cerebri Report of four cases and review of the literature

Four cases of gliomatosis cerebri are reported that demonstrate the variability of the clinical course. A review of these and 32 cases from the literature revealed that the most striking finding was change in personality and mental status. Hemiparesis, ataxia, papilledema, headache, seizure, and brainstem signs were the next most common clinical findings. Laboratory and radiographic tests, including angiography and pneumoencephalography, often showed only minor and nonspecific changes in the face of profound mental deterioration. Increased intracranial pressure usually occurred late but was probably an important factor of the terminal course in most patients. The pathologic changes were typical, with diffuse infiltration of astrocytoma cells through brain stem, subcortical white matter, and, to a lesser extent, cerebral cortex.

Head or neck injury increases the risk of chronic daily headache A population-based study

Objective: To evaluate the extent to which head and neck injury (HANI) contributes to chronic daily headache (CDH). Background: In prospective studies, head injury is associated with headache (HA) that remains a problem at 12 to 24 months post-head injury in 20 to 30% of patients. Of these, up to 30 to 50% manifest CDH. The degree to which head injury contributes to CDH has not been evaluated in a non-clinical population. We evaluate the relationship between lifetime occurrence of HANI and CDH in a randomly chosen population sample. Methods: Study participants are from the Frequent Headache Epidemiology Study. Cases with CDH (≥180 HA/year) and a comparison group with episodic headache (EH, 2 to 102 HA/year) were identified from the general population. Subjects were asked about lifetime occurrence of HANI. HANI were further classified as potentially precipitating injuries (PPI) if they occurred within 2 years of CDH onset for cases or in an equivalent 2-year period for EH controls. Results: Lifetime occurrence of HANI was more frequent in cases than controls for men (adjusted OR = 3.1 [1.3 to 7.2]), women (OR = 1.5 [0.97 to 2.3]), and overall (OR = 1.7 [1.1 to 2.4]). The attributable risk was 15% (36% men, 11% women). Results were similar for PPI. The odds of CDH increased with the number of lifetime HANI in all groups (p < 0.05 trend). Conclusions: Results suggest that head and neck injury (HANI) accounts for approximately 15% of chronic daily headache (CDH) cases in this non-clinical population. The relationship between HANI and CDH was not limited to injuries proximate to CDH onset. The lifetime risk of CDH increases with increasing number of HANI.

Characteristics of life headache histories in a nonclinic population

A detailed questionnaire concerning life history of headache and its characteristics was administered to 1,809 nonmedical volunteers. Questions dealt with severity of headache, the nature of preceding and accompanying phenomena (nausea, visual scotomata, neurologic symptoms), precipitating factors, and history of other illness. For the total sample and in the 25 to 39 age group, severe or disabling headaches were significantly more frequent in women and mild headaches were significantly more common in men. Migraine characteristics were common with mild headache. An association between hypertension and severe headache was found in women, between asthma and severe headache in men.

Amitriptyline in the Prophylactic Treatment of Migraine and Chronic Daily Headache

(Headache 2011;51:33‐51)

Evaluation of the relationship between migraine headache and depression.

MIGRAINE HEADACHE and depression are both common disorders. There have been many suggestions of a relationship between them1-4 but few systematic studies have been done. Kashiwagi et al 1 using rigid criteria for depression, found that 50% of a series of 100 patients with various types of headaches were depressed including 36 with unipolar affective disorders, 3 with bipolar affective disorder and 11 with secondary depression. Vascular headaches or combination of tension and vascular headaches are present in 69 of these patients of whom 22 were depressed. Comparing patients with tension headaches, vascular headaches or a combination of both however, they found no increase in the incidence of depression in the group with vascular headaches over the others.

Transnasal butorphanol in the treatment of acute migraine

We studied transnasal butorphanol (Stadol NS·) for pain relief during acute migraine in a multicenter, randomized, double‐blind, placebo controlled trial using ambulatory patients at 10 geographically diverse headache centers. Patients were volunteer adults diagnosed with migraine with or without aura by International Headache Society criteria. One hundred fifty‐seven patients completed the study. We treated the pain of one headache in each patient with either transnasal butorphanol (n=107) or transnasal placebo (n=50). Pain relief, pain intensity, nausea, vomiting, and effect on function were measured periodically. Adverse experiences were documented. Global assessments were made at follow‐up. With butorphanol, migraine pain was reduced from moderate, severe, or incapacitating to slight or absent for 35 patients (33%) within 30 minutes, for 50 patients (47%) within 1 hour, and for 76 (71%) within 6 hours, compared to 2 (4%) 8 (16%) and 15 (30%) respectively for placebo. Side effects were prominent, though confounded by the migraine. The most common side effects, compared to placebo, were dizziness (58% vs 4%), nausea and/or vomiting (38% vs 18%), and drowsiness (29% vs 0%). We conclude that transnasal butorphanol is a useful analgesic for the pain of acute migraine. Its prominent side effects and low self reinforcement rate may limit its usefulness in some patients, while increasing its appropriateness for others.

Status Migrainosus: Causative and Therapeutic Aspects

SYNOPSIS