Rizatriptan effective for menstrual migraine

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Rizatriptan, which is sold under the brand name Maxalt, may provide significant pain relief for women who suffer from migraines related to their menstrual cycle, researchers say.

"Menstrual migraine is perceived by many as a more difficult headache to effectively treat with current therapies that are available," Dr. Robert Nett from Texas Headache Associates in San Antonio and colleagues note in the journal Headache.

Their study involved 146 women with pure menstrual migraine, in which attacks occur exclusively with menstruation, and 561 with menstrually-related migraine, in which attacks may also occur at other times of the cycle.

The women treated a single migraine attack of moderate to severe pain intensity with either a tablet of rizatriptan or a matching "placebo."

According to the team, the percentage of patients reporting pain relief within 2 hours was significantly greater with rizatriptan than with placebo for both pure menstrual migraine (73 percent vs 50 percent) and menstrually-related migraine (71 percent vs 52 percent).

Rizatriptan also showed a numerically greater response for other measures of pain relief, Nett and colleagues report.

There were no serious adverse effects and no differences in adverse events between the two groups, "consistent with the safety profile previously reported for rizatriptan."

SOURCE: Headache, September 2008.