CLINICAL HISTORY This 47-year-old woman has a history of migraine since aged 4 years. Until 1 year ago, the headaches occurred one to two times per week, lasted all day, resulted in functional incapacity, and were not relieved by over-the-counter medications or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. About 10 years ago, she was taking Fiorinal #3 but stopped when she developed rebound headaches. S...

BACKGROUND The gastric stasis that commonly accompanies migraine headache may impair absorption of conventional oral tablets in the stomach. A fast-disintegrating/rapid-release formulation of sumatriptan has been developed to enhance tablet disintegration and drug dispersion and potentially improve absorption. OBJECTIVE Two studies were conducted comparing the time to onset of relief from mod...

1. The mechanism of action of sumatriptan on coronary flow was examined before and after two different forms of endothelial ablation in guinea-pig isolated hearts. The mechanism was assessed in terms of the influence of the integrity of the coronary endothelium, the role of release of nitric oxide (NO) from the endothelium, and the receptor subtypes mediating the effects. 2. Continuous perfusio...

CLINICAL HISTORY This 60-year-old woman has had a history of severe migraines without aura since she was 25 years old. The attacks now occur once every 3 weeks or less, lasting up to a week without treatment. Sumatriptan, 6 mg, administered subcutaneously (SQ) completely relieves the headache and zolmitriptan, 5 mg, decreases the headaches to a dull level. Sumatriptan, 50 mg, administered orall...

BACKGROUND Both animal and clinical studies have implicated serotonergic dysfunction in the pathogenesis of alcohol abuse and dependence. However the exact mechanisms involved remain unknown. Theoretically, low serotonin promotes alcohol seeking behavior. Sumatriptan is a serotonin1D agonist. It is postulated that sumatriptan's agonism at this terminal autoreceptor increases negative feedback, ...

STUDY OBJECTIVE Intravenous (IV) prochlorperazine with diphenhydramine is superior to subcutaneous sumatriptan in the treatment of migraine patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). METHODS In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, after providing written informed consent, patients presenting to the ED with a chief complaint of migraine received a 500-mL bolus of...

1. The 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT1)-like agonist, sumatriptan, is highly efficient in the relief of migraine headache and its accompanying symptoms. 2. Experimental evidence has indicated that its site of action may be on the cranial vessels or on the trigeminal innervation of the cranium, or both, since sumatriptan does not pass the blood-brain barrier easily under normal circumstances. It is, ...

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is involved in the underlying pathophysiology of all vascular headaches, including migraines. Elevated levels of CGRP during migraine are restored to normal coincident with headache relief after treatment with the antimigraine drug sumatriptan. We have used primary cultures of trigeminal neurons under conditions simulating migraine pathology and therapy to...

Subcutaneous sumatriptan is an effective treatment for pain from acute migraine headache, and can be used in patients with known migraine syndrome and in patients with primary headaches when secondary causes have been excluded. In limited comparative trials, subcutaneous sumatriptan performed in a manner comparable with oral eletriptan and intravenous metoclopramide, was superior to intravenous...