Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2009 Apr 24:10:25.
doi: 10.1186/1745-6215-10-25.

The design and protocol of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis: a multicenter randomized controlled trial

Yan Zhang  1 , Linpeng Wang, Huilin Liu, Nan Li, Jingdao Li, Jinghong Yi
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The design and protocol of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis: a multicenter randomized controlled trial

Yan Zhang et al. Trials. .

Abstract

Background: Many studies have already reported encouraging results in the prophylactic therapy of migraine by acupuncture, but there seems to be a lack of high quality randomized controlled trials from China. We design and perform a randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture compared with flunarizine in the prophylactic therapy of patients with migraine without aura in China.

Methods: This trial is a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial. The 140 migraine patients are randomly allocated to two different groups. The acupuncture groups (n = 70) is treated with acupuncture and placebo medicine; while the control group (n = 70) is treated with sham acupuncture and medicine (Flunarizine). Both Flunarizine and placebo are taken 10 mg once per night for the first 2 weeks and then 5 mg once per night for the next 2 weeks. Patients in both groups receive 12 sessions of verum/sham acupuncture in 4 weeks.

Discussion: The study design and the long term clinical practice of acupuncturists guarantee a high external validity for the results. The results of our trial will be helpful to supply the evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis in China.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trial profile.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Syndrome differentiation of meridians in headache region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Headache Classification Subcommittee of the International Headache Society . Cephalalgia. 2. Vol. 24. 2004. The international classification of headachedisorders; pp. 9–160. - PubMed
    1. Hagen K, Zwart JA, Vatten L, Stovner LJ, Bovim G. Prevalence of migraine and non-migrainous headache – head-HUNT, a large population-based study. Cephalalgia. 2000;20:900–906. doi: 10.1046/j.1468-2982.2000.00145.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang SJ, Liu HC, Fuh JL, Liu CY, Lin KP, Chen HM, Lin CH, Wang PN, Hsu LC, Wang HC, Lin KN. Prevalence of headaches in a Chinese elderly population in Kinmen: age and gender effect and cross-cultural comparisons. Neurology. 1997;49:195–200. - PubMed
    1. Diamond S, Bigal ME, Silberstein S, Loder E, Reed M, Lipton RB. Patterns of diagnosis and acute and preventive treatment for migraine in the United States: results from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study. Headache. 2007;47:355–363. - PubMed
    1. Göbel H, Petersen-Braun M, Soyka D. The epidemiology of headache in Germany: a nationwide survey of a representative sample on the basis of the headache classification of the International Headache Society. Cephalalgia. 1994;14:97–106. doi: 10.1046/j.1468-2982.1994.1402097.x. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data