Fight against the headache

Pain Congress in Hamburg: The fight against headache

25/10/2013

People with unbearable headaches can breathe easy. At the Schmerzkongess in Hamburg, which started on Wednesday, new treatment methods are presented. Up to 2500 participants are expected.

For the approximately 100,000 cluster headache patients living in Germany who describe their pain as unbearable, tearing and boring, there is a new treatment method. On the Internet sufferers report such strong pain attacks that they would like to hit their heads against the wall.

Researchers have developed the so-called "Sphenopalatinen Ganglienstimulation" (SPG). The affected person is implanted directly under the skin on the upper jaw a coil that is connected via an electrode with a specific nerve node. If the person gets a pain attack, he can trigger a signal from the outside by means of a device, a kind of remote control. "Then current flows and the ganglion is stimulated", explains Prof. Arne May, one of the two presidents of this year's pain congress and headache specialist University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE).

Together, scientists from the UKE and the University Hospital Essen have tested in a study with other European centers, the method developed in the United States. "We recommended that patients use the device for ten minutes," says May. In 60 percent of patients, the pain is reduced within a four-week period. The intervals of attacks became rarer or completely disappeared. May reports that in some patients, the pain subsides after only two to three minutes. Although the success rate was lower over the entire 18-month study period, 30 to 50 percent of patients showed a significant improvement. However, the experts can not yet access long-term results for several years on this procedure. Meanwhile, the UKE scientists have already gained some experience with the new method. "We've done over 20 interventions at UKE so far," said Arne May. Chronic pain is not an unknown phenomenon in Germany and is more prevalent. According to Prof. Thomas Tölle, the president of the German Pain Society, twelve million people in Germany are afflicted with chronic complaints. Above all, it is important that acute pain be taken right from the start and treated so that they do not remain permanent, said Tölle.

Against this background, he also referred to the "National Action Plan Against Pain", which was launched three years ago. The aim was to create awareness of this problem, which has succeeded. However, research must be further promoted and patient care expanded. For the implementation of the action plan, he also called for the participation of the policy: "Only the policy can provide the support, so that we can implement the action plan," said Tölle.

From the point of view of the German Pain Society, a coordinated action is necessary, which should include more transparency and an increase in quality. In politics, the topic of pain should take on an independent point of advice at the Conference of Health Ministers. The development of health services research, for example, by a German pain register for chronic pain, was helpful. It also makes sense to integrate pain medicine as a separate examination subject within the study at the universities. "We also need to think more about patients with acute pain, because there are still major gaps in the care at the latches," said Tölle. For those affected, this is certainly more than just a glimmer of hope. (Fp)