Throughout history, many methods have been used to treat migraines. Trepanation — drilling holes in the skull — was at one time considered to be standard treatment. Ancient Romans sometimes placed a black torpedo fish on their foreheads, thinking that the electrical shock it produced would cure their migraine woes.

Two devices that are currently in clinical trials for controlling migraines employ electrical or electromagnetic therapies — Occipital Nerve Stimulation (ONS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)...

Dr. Richard Lipton, leading epidemiologist in the field of migraine and director of the Montefiore Headache center, says,

"There is still a lot of unmet need." So the idea of having stimulatory devices that can be used to prevent headaches or to treat them acutely is very attractive to me, and I think very attractive to patients as well.”

The occipital nerve stimulator is a small device that delivers electrical impulses via insulated lead wires tunneled under the skin near the occipital nerves at the base of the head. Patients are generally considered good candidates for the ONS trials if occipital nerve block injections have relieved their migraines.

The TMS device is about the size of a blow dryer. At the first sign of a migraine, it's held to the back of the head for 30 seconds and provides two brief, painless magnetic pulses.

Dr. Joel Saper, the founder and director of the Michigan Head Pain and Neurological Institute in Ann Arbor, Mich., has commented on the ONS,

"It is time to take a hard look at stimulation for chronic migraines. If stimulation proves to be as effective as we hope, it could help the large numbers of people who have failed to respond to currently available treatments."

Neither of these devices are a "cure" for migraine diease, and each has its drawbacks. As the trials progress the benefits, risks, and drawbacks will become better established. At this time, these devices are available only to migraineurs enrolled in clinical trials. To locate these trials, see our clinical trials listings or ClincalTrials.gov.

For more information on these two devices, see:

• Zapping Migraines? Medtronic Begins Trial
  Medtronic, Inc., has announced the first patient implant in a preliminary study to evaluate if an implanted device might help some of the thousands of Americans who suffer the agony of chronic Migraines. Called Occipital Nerve Stimulation for the Treatment of Intractable Migraine, or ONSTIM, the study involves a Medtronic Synergy® neurostimulation device, which delivers electrical impulses via insulated lead wires tunneled under the skin near the occipital nerves at the base of the head.
   
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Short-Circuiting Migraines?
  Researchers at the Ohio State University have completed a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study testing the use of a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device to abort Migraine with aura. The findings of their study were presented at the 48th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society (AHS) on June 23, 2006.

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Reference:

Schaffer, Amanda. "It May Come As a Shock." The New York Times. November, 2007.