Patients speak out about shortcomings of cluster headache treatment
Elsewhere at the meeting, Emmanuelle Schindler, MD, PhD, a neurologist at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., reported on 493 participants in the Clusterbusters Medication Use Survey. The results provided a sobering picture of the shortcomings of current cluster headache treatments from the patient perspective.
Two-thirds of subjects had episodic cluster headache, while the remainder had the chronic form. Roughly 11% of subjects reported limiting adverse events caused by their abortive and/or preventive medications. A similar percentage reported resistance to all approved preventive drugs. Inconsistency of medication efficacy was a common theme. The survey respondents want novel treatments that are safe and effective. And they expressed a wish that more primary care physicians were well informed about cluster headaches; many of the individuals with cluster headache reported difficulty in reaching a knowledgeable headache specialist.
The Pathway CH-2 study was funded by Autonomic Technologies Inc. Dr. Dodick serves as a consultant to that company and numerous others. Dr. Schindler’s survey was funded by Clusterbusters, a nonprofit research organization.
SOURCE: Dodick DW, AHS 2018, Abstract PS112LB.