Migraine is one of the most common causes of chronic headaches among adults. More than 30 million Russian residents experience one or more migraine attacks per year. Every 12 months, 2.5% of these patients have episodic migraines that turn into chronic ones.
Unfortunately, classical medical treatment of migraines is ineffective in this disease. This leads to the abuse of drugs, the action of which is aimed at relieving migraine attacks. This, in turn, worsens the course of the disease, since the frequent use of painkillers independently causes a new type of headache – an abusive headache.
The mechanism of action of botulinum toxin as an agent aimed at preventing the occurrence of migraine attacks is associated with its ability to block the release of substances that participate in the pathological cascade that results in a headache attack.
Botulinum toxin is injected directly into the muscles of the head and neck, according to a specially recommended and standardized scheme. The efficiency is more than 50%. This means that after the procedure, the number and intensity of seizures decreases by more than half. The duration of the effect is on average 6 months or longer. With repeated injections, there is also a tendency to increase the duration of the effect of botulinum toxin administration. This contradicts the prevailing opinion about "getting hooked on the drug" and "gradually reducing the intervals between injections." In this situation, the key to the effectiveness of treatment is the correct selection of patients (the presence of true chronic migraine) and a high level of professionalism of the doctor who uses this technique.