Abstract
Despite the high prevalence of migraine in Japanese, most patients with migraine are not diagnosed by physician, and therefore may not be adequately treated. Sumatriptan, a selective 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonist, is used when attacks do not respond to ergotamine, or when intolerable side effects occur. We examined the efficacy of subcutaneous (SC) sumatriptan (3mg) for seven patients with migraine and a patient with SUNCT syndrome, which is characterized by short-lasting, unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing. We confirmed that sumatriptan SC had a significant improvement in all patients with migraine and provided relief as early as 10-30 minutes after administration, while a patient with SUNCT syndrome does not respond to the treatment. We also found that all patients who could be treated lived in the neighborhood of our clinic. No significant adverse events were observed except mild neck pain in two patients with migraine, and no patients experienced headache recurrence within 24 hours after administration. In conclusion, sumatriptan SC is recommended for acute treatment of migraine, however we should consider the route of administration of this drug (for example, oral tablets, intranasal and rectal formulations) as well as SC autoinjection formulation.
