Latest Conference Coverage

Benefits and Risks of Opioid Use in Restless Legs Syndrome: John Winkelman, MD, PhD

The chief of the Sleep Disorders Clinical Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital discussed the benefits opioids have for patients with restless legs syndrome, as well as how they can be safely used as part of treatment strategies. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

Fremanezumab Significantly Reduces in Depression in Patients With Migraine and Major Depressive Disorder

Over an 8-week period, patients with migraine and major depressive disorder who were treated with fremanezumab showed significant reductions in HAMD-17 and PHQ-9 scores.

Exploring the Potential Associations Between Migraine and Dementia: Olivia Begasse de Dhaem, MD, FAHS

The headache specialist at Hartford Healthcare Headache Center talked about her debate at AHS 2023 on why migraine is not a risk factor for dementia. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

Insights on Sunobinop As a Treatment for Insomnia in Patients Recovering From Alcohol Use Disorder

Garth T. Whiteside, PhD, head of preclinical development at Imbrium Therapeutics, discussed a phase 2 clinical study that explored the use of sunobinop in patients with insomnia during recovery from alcohol use disorder.

Galcanezumab Shows Greatest Reduction in Disease Burden Following Switching

Following the initiation or switch to a new migraine preventive medication, patients taking galcanezumab showed numerically greater 3-month improvements for most measures of health-related quality of life and disability.

Management and Impact of Migraine During Pregnancy: Rashmi Halker Singh, MD

The associate professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic discussed the developing field of migraine management during pregnancy and the importance of raising awareness of treatment options during the gestation period. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

NeuroVoices: Sara Pavitt, MD, on the Need to Educate the Clinical Community on Pediatric Headache

At the 2023 AHS Annual Meeting, the chief of headache at UT Austin Dell Children’s Hospital discussed her presentation on a new educational intervention to improve knowledge of pediatric headache.

Increased Efficacy Through Combination of Remote Electrical Neuromodulation and Gepants

The combination of both REN and gepants for acute migraine treatment may have an increased efficacy compared with REN alone, an expected result based on the different actions of the treatments.

Using an Integrated EHR Questionnaire to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment in Pediatric Headache: Christina Szperka, MD, MSCE

The director of the Pediatric Headache Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia talked about the usage of an integrated EHR questionnaire to improve the likelihood of specific diagnosis in pediatric headache. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

Entering a New Realm of Migraine Treatment, Research Priorities

Approach to Cannabis and Optimizing Treatment for Migraine: Nathaniel Schuster, MD

The pain management specialist and headache neurologist at the University of California San Diego Center for Pain Medicine provided perspective on how cannabis may be used in the management of migraine as more evidence is uncovered. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

Zavegepant Tolerable, Safe When Used in Combination With Other CGRP Monoclonal Antibodies

Data showed similar rates of discontinuation because of adverse events between those with and without CGRP monoclonal antibodies, as well as no serious AEs observed for those on concomitant medication.

Unveiling the Connection Between Migraine and the Gut: Daping Yang, PhD

The postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School discussed the relationship between sensory neurons and the neuropeptide CGRP in regulating gut immunity. [WATCH TIME: 6 minutes]

Intravenous Ketamine Significantly Reduces Pain in Refractory Pediatric Headache

The use of intravenous ketamine in pediatric patients with refractory headaches resulted in a median pain reduction of 50% at discharge and nearly two-third of patients did not need further rescue therapies 1 month posttreatment.

Exploring Behavioral Approaches in Migraine Management: Elizabeth Seng, PhD

The associate professor at Yeshiva University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine discussed the significance of recognizing the behavioral aspects of migraine management such as lifestyle choices, medical interventions, and societal influences. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

How Retinal Imaging Reveals Alterations During Migraine Attacks: Katherine Podraza, MD, PhD

The headache specialist at the Hartford Healthcare Headache Center discussed a study that explored changes in the vasculature and retinal blood perfusion of the eye during migraine attacks. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

Efficacy of Rimegepant Similar Among Black and African American Adults

Compared with the overall population, outcomes for the coprimary end points of pain freedom and freedom from most bothersome symptom at 2 hours postdose remained superior in rimegepant-treated individuals.

Using a Data-Driven Approach to Assess Clinical Heterogeneity in Migraine: Ali Ezzati, MD

The director of the Neuroinformatics Program at the University of California, Irvine, provided insight on the use of self-organizing maps to cluster different groups of patients with migraine. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

Migraine Treatment Atogepant Outperforms Rimegepant in Matching-Adjusted Indirect Comparison Analysis

Atogepant 60 mg once daily group had significantly larger reductions in mean monthly migraine days across weeks 1-12 and weeks 9-12, with no statistical difference in treatment-emergent adverse events or all-cause discontinuation.

Use of Vaporized Cannabis as a Potential Treatment for Migraine: Nathaniel Schuster, MD

The pain management specialist and headache neurologist at the University of California San Diego Center for Pain Medicine discussed promising findings from a placebo-controlled trial assessing cannabis in patients with migraine. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

Behavioral Strategies for Management and Destigmatizing Migraine

Elizabeth K. Seng, PhD, associate professor at Yeshiva University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, talked about migraine management through the lens of behavioral factors that clinicians can recommend and encourage to their patients.

Defining Research Priorities in Migraine Through Crowdsourcing: Amynah Pradhan, PhD

The associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago discussed the various working groups that have been formed to determine the priorities for different topics in migraine at the 2023 AHS Annual Meeting. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

Migraine Related Stigma and its Impact on Patients in Healthcare

Allison Verhaak, PhD, a clinical psychologist from Ayer Neuroscience Institute at Hartford Healthcare Headache Center, discussed focus group and survey data on themes in migraine-related stigma, and the importance of creating a migraine specific stigma scale.

Discontinuation of Peripheral Nerve Blocks and OnabotulinumtoxinA From Adverse Effects in Chronic Migraine

A retrospective cohort study observed no significant difference in the number of patients who discontinued concurrent peripheral nerve blocks and onabotulinumtoxinA, which the authors recognized as a marker of clinical relevance.

Certain Social Determinants of Health Contribute to Increased Rates of Migraine vs Headache Diagnosis

Demographic factors of male sex, non-White race, and having a primary language other than English were associated with a lower odds of being diagnosed with migraine.

Candesartan Shown to be Safe, Effective as Option to Prevent Migraine in Adolescents

Patients on candesartan saw statistically significant reductions in the mean frequency of monthly headache days, including moderate to severe headache days.

Lowest Rates of Discontinuation Observed With Galcanezumab Among Self-Injectable CGRP Monoclonal Antibodies

When comparing galcanezumab, fremanezumab, and erenumab, 3 FDA-approved CGRP medications for preventive migraine, time to switch was lowest for erenumab and similar for galcanezumab and fremanezumab.

Survey Shows Lack of Awareness of Medication-Overuse Headache in Patients with Migraine

Investigators concluded that the increased prevalence of medication-overuse headache might be because of the lack of understanding about the condition in both providers and patients with migraine.

Using a Novel Educational Intervention to Improve Overall Knowledge of Headache: Sara Pavitt, MD

The chief of headache at UT Austin Dell Children’s Hospital provided insight on a new series designed to deliver longitudinal comprehensive pediatric headache education. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

The Impact of Social Participation on Cognitive Function in Patients With Parkinson Disease: Ling Wan-Albert, OTD, OTR/L

The assistant professor of occupational therapy at the New York Institute of Technology talked about educating patients with Parkinson disease about the importance of maintaining social participation for cognitive function at ATMRD 2023. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]