WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- A new device can stop migraine pain and relieve aura symptoms if used during the aura period that precedes a migraine headache.
Information on the device was presented by researcher Yousef Mohammad of the Ohio State University Medical Center at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society in Los Angeles today.
Mohammad and his colleagues tested the device, called the TMS (NeuraLieve, Sunnyvale, Ca.), in their patients at OSU Medical Center.
The TMS sends a strong electric current through a metal coil, which creates an intense magnetic field for about one millisecond. The device is held against the patient's head and activated, interrupting the neuronal storm typical of the aura period, reducing aura symptoms, and stopping the development of a full-fledged migraine.
Mohammad said the device is painless, and patients reported only a momentary feeling of pressure.
After two hours, 69 percent of the treated patients said they had no headache or only mild pain compared to 48 percent of the placebo group, and 42 percent rated their headache response as "very good" or "excellent" compared to 26 percent of the placebo group.
A significant percentage of patients also said the device produced immediate relief of aura symptoms, including visual hallucinations, sensitivity to sound, weakness, tingling, confusion, nausea, and vomiting.
The authors are planning to test the TMS in a larger population in the near future.
