Could a visual tool aid migraine management?
A new visual tool aims to streamline patient-clinician communication about risk factors for progression from episodic to chronic migraines.
The tool is still just a prototype, but it could eventually synthesize patient responses to an integrated questionnaire and produce a chart illustrating where the patient stands with respect to a range of modifiable risk factors from depression to insomnia.
Physicians must see patients in short appointment periods, making it difficult to communicate all of the risk factors and behavioral characteristics that can contribute to risk of progression. “If you have a patient and you’re able to look at a visualization tool quickly and say: ‘Okay, my patient really is having insomnia and sleep issues,’ you can focus the session talking about sleep, cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia, and all the things we can help patients with,” lead researcher Ami Cuneo, MD, who is a headache fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle, said in an interview.
Dr. Cuneo presented a poster describing the concept at the virtual annual meeting of the American Headache Society. Read more.
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