Perimenstrual eletriptan prevents menstrual migraine: an open-label study.

OBJECTIVE

To prospectively evaluate the efficacy of perimenstrual prophylaxis with eletriptan to reduce headaches in women identified with menstrual migraine (MM).

METHODS

Female migraineurs self-reporting a substantial relationship between migraine and menses were evaluated with 3 consecutive months of daily headache recording diaries. A relationship between menses and migraine was evaluated using International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-II) criteria and a probability model called Probability MM. Women prospectively diagnosed with ICHD-II MM were treated for 3 consecutive months with perimenstrual eletriptan 20 mg 3 times daily starting 2 days prior to the expected onset of menstruation and continued for a total of 6 days. Headache activity was compared during the 3 months of recording prior to eletriptan therapy and 3 months with eletriptan perimenstrual prevention therapy.

RESULTS

Three months of pretreatment prospective diaries were completed by 126 women. ICHD-II menstrually related migraine was diagnosed in 74%, with pure MM in 7%. Among those women diagnosed with ICHD-II MM, 61 completed at least 1 treatment month. Overall change in headache activity was a 46% decrease. The mean percentage of treated menses without migraine occurring during the 6 days of treatment was 71%. The percentage of subjects with 1, 2, and 3 migraine-free menstrual periods (no migraines occurring 2 days before menses through the first 3 days of menstruation) with eletriptan, respectively, were 14%, 19%, and 53%. Among those subjects who remained headache-free during the 6 days of eletriptan treatment, migraine occurred during the 3 days immediately after discontinuing eletriptan for 9%. Perimenstrual eletriptan was generally tolerated and no abnormalities were identified on the 6(th) day of treatment using either blood pressure recording or electrocardiogram.

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients with prospectively identified MM, eletriptan 20 mg 3 times daily effectively reduced MM. A significant reduction in headache activity occurred for 53% of patients.