Peter Špalek
Menstrual migraine is usually very severe, disabling, often prolonged and difficult to manage with conventional therapies. Frovatriptan is a new selective 5HT1B/1D receptor agonist for short-term management of migraine. It has a long elimination half-life and good tolerability. These characteristics suggest that frovatriptan may be useful for the intermittent prevention of menstrual migraine (Silberstein et al 2004; MacGregor et al 2005). We treated in an open uncontrolled study 4 patients with severe menstrual migraine. Patients were treated with frovatriptan 2,5 mg two times daily. The 6-day treatment started 2 days before anticipated menstruation and lasted up to 4th menstruation day. The primary efficacy endpoint was the incidence of menstrual migraine during 6-day perimenstrual period. We evaluated five perimenstrual periods. Results: 2 patients (50 %) – full (complete) elimination of menstrual migraine; 1 patient (25 %) – marked reduction in incidence of menstrual migraine; 1 patient (25 %) – no effect. Frovatriptan had a good tolerability with no significant side effects. Conclusion: Frovatriptan given in intermittent preventive regime for 6 days was effective in reducing the incidence of menstrual migraine. 50 % of patients who used frovatriptan had no menstruation associated migraine during the five 6-day perimenstrual periods.