Department of Medical Education and Research, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, 813414, Taiwan.
College of Photonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Tainan, 71150, Taiwan.
Eur J Med Res. 2023 Oct 25;28(1):457. doi: 10.1186/s40001-023-01438-3.
Migraine is one of four major chronic diseases that cause disability. Decreases in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) occur during migraine attacks. Laser therapy is extensively employed in treating other vascular diseases; nevertheless, its effectiveness in migraine management remains largely unknown. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of low-level intravascular laser irradiation of blood (ILIB) therapy in patients with migraine.
We performed an observational case-control study in 24 patients suffering from migraine. Patients were divided into an ILIB treatment group and a traditional rehabilitation group. This study performed clinical assessments and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) prior to and after the treatment and 1 month later. Changes in rCBF-SPECT between groups and between timepoints were compared to clinical outcomes.
Nine patients undergoing rehabilitation and fifteen patients undergoing ILIB were studied from baseline to 1 month follow-up. The ILIB group, visual analog scale for pain (P = 0.001), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (P = 0.003), and Athens Insomnia Scale (P < 0.001) symptom scores significantly improved after treatment. SPECT imaging showed a 1.27 ± 0.27 fold increase in rCBF after ILIB treatment, and no significant differences in the rehabilitation group.
Low-level ILIB therapy is associated with better clinical and vascular outcomes, and may be a feasible treatment option for migraine. Although our sample size was small, our data provide a starting point for migraine laser therapy research.
偏头痛是导致残疾的四大慢性疾病之一。偏头痛发作期间，局部脑血流（rCBF）减少。激光疗法广泛应用于治疗其他血管疾病；然而，其在偏头痛管理中的有效性仍知之甚少。因此，我们评估了低强度血管内激光照射血液（ILIB）疗法对偏头痛患者的疗效。
我们对 24 例偏头痛患者进行了一项观察性病例对照研究。患者分为 ILIB 治疗组和传统康复组。该研究在治疗前、治疗后和 1 个月后进行了临床评估和单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT）。比较 rCBF-SPECT 组间和组内变化与临床结果。
从基线到 1 个月随访，对 9 例接受康复治疗和 15 例接受 ILIB 治疗的患者进行了研究。ILIB 组视觉模拟评分（疼痛）（P = 0.001）、蒙特利尔认知评估（P = 0.003）和雅典失眠量表（P < 0.001）症状评分在治疗后显著改善。SPECT 成像显示 ILIB 治疗后 rCBF 增加了 1.27±0.27 倍，而康复组无显著差异。
低强度 ILIB 治疗与更好的临床和血管结果相关，可能是偏头痛的一种可行治疗选择。尽管我们的样本量较小，但我们的数据为偏头痛激光治疗研究提供了一个起点。
