Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
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Drug refractory headaches constitute an important cause of social life disability; when a lack of responsiveness to conservative treatments is ascertained for these pathological conditions, surgical options are considered. Several lines of evidence exist to assert that the neuromodulation procedures available so far are safe and effective in a large amount of patients for the treatment of different types of severe primary and secondary headaches. Central (deep-brain stimulation, DBS) and peripheral [vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), occipital nerve stimulation (ONS), subcutaneous trigeminal stimulation] neuromodulation procedures are here reviewed as reported in literature along with the experience of our Institute.
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Patients with chronic migraine are difficult to treat and often analgesic overusers. In this article attention is focused on aspects considered important for producing a definition of refractory in relation to this headache form. I propose that a "chronic migraine" patient should be considered "refractory" to pharmacological prophylaxis when adequate trials of preventive therapies at adequate doses have failed to reduce headache frequency and improve headache-related disability and, in patients with medication overuse, also failed to reduce the consumption of symptomatic drugs.
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Pharmacological prophylaxis of chronic migraine: a review of double-blind placebo-controlled trials.
Chronic migraine is an important public health problem. The aim of treatment should be to reduce migraine frequency and its negative impact on functioning, as well as to limit the use of acute medications. ⋯ The results of the review indicate that tizanidine, gabapentin, valproic acid, and particularly topiramate are effective prophylactics against chronic migraine, with improvements in several endpoints that were significantly superior to those achieved by placebo. However, the different results found by different trials, as well as several methodological problems inherent in the trials, suggest the need for further research to provide clear indications from large, multicentre, controlled trials with homogeneous inclusion criteria and adequate endpoints.
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Obsessive compulsive disorder is a highly disabling pathological condition which in the most severe and drug-resistant form can severely impair social, cognitive and interpersonal functioning. Deep-brain stimulation has been demonstrated to be an effective and safe interventional procedure in such refractory forms in selected cases. We here report the first Italian experience in the treatment of this pathology by means of nucleus accumbens stimulation, pointing out to some technical data which could be of help in localization of the target.
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The transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and contrast-enhanced transcranial Doppler/Duplex ultrasonography (ceTCD) are complementary methods for diagnosing a right to left shunt across a patent foramen ovale. We report on a case of paradoxical embolism across a subclavian arterial-venous fistula. This case underlines the necessity of performing the ceTCD, as in this condition the right to left shunt could be detected by means of ceTCD, whereas the TEE reveals regular findings.