Two newly published clinical trial have demonstrated that Cefaly—the first US Food and Drug Administration-approved external trigeminal nerve stimulation device for the prevention of frequent episodic migraine attacks—has been used successfully on patients suffering from chronic migraine and refractory migraine in two trials.
Cefaly, is a palm-sized, prescription-only device that works through a self-adhesive electrode placed on the forehead and a magnetic connection, which sends tiny electrical impulses through the skin to the upper branches of the trigeminal nerve in order to desensitise the trigeminovascular system.
The chronic migraine results, published in Neurological Sciences, showed a reduction of the acute anti-migraine medication intake, whereby more than half of the patients had a greater than 50% reduction in medication. In addition, patients treated with the Cefaly saw a significant reduction (-6.4) in the number of monthly headache days.
The second clinical trial demonstrates successful use of the Cefaly device for migraine patients who do not respond to usual oral migraine medication.
The results, published in BMC Neurology, showed that the treatment reduced the number of headache days and the acute anti-migraine medication intake in refractory migraine patients/ Two out of three patients (66%) reported satisfaction with the treatment.
