The fight against migraine headache is very difficult, but scientists have found a way out. Developed by Israeli researchers, the wireless patch can help you deal with this distressing condition. How it works?
The patch – stuck to the arm – contains a chip and electrodes that generate electrical impulses that block pain signals from being transmitted to the brain. At the moment when the patient begins to feel the first symptoms, with the help of a special application, he can generate electrical impulses. As the coordinator of the study, Dr. David Yarnitsky, explains, the patch allows you to send pulses “at levels that are painless, so you can largely stop the development of a migraine attack – if done early enough”.
As Dr. Yarnitsky adds, the only noticeable side effect is a tingling sensation in the patient’s arm. The effect of the patch was tested in a study involving 71 people suffering from migraines. Each of them had attacks of the disease two to eight times a month.
During the course of the study, the device was used to treat nearly 300 migraine attacks. It has been programmed to randomly produce a “false” pulse of very low intensity or a true pulse of one of four levels of intensity.
64 percent participants who used one of the top three intensity levels experienced a pain reduction of at least half over the next two hours. For comparison, in the group of respondents who received a false impulse, 26% reported an improvement. people.
Moreover, in 30 percent. participants in the group that used the highest pulse intensity level available, the migraine pain completely disappeared; among recipients of a false impulse, this percentage was 6%. The researchers add that the patch works most effectively when it is applied within 20 minutes of the first symptoms of migraine – among study participants who used the device early enough, pain was reduced by 47%. Later, the effectiveness of the patch drops significantly: only 25 percent improved. participants who used the patch 20 minutes after the onset of symptoms.
Dr. Yarnitsky emphasizes that these results are very similar to those obtained with triptans – one of the more commonly used migraine medications. Thanks to this – as he claims – the device can be an alternative for patients who are looking for effective methods of treatment.