Clinical analysis of the patients with tension-type headache in whom kakkontou is effective

Abstract

There are no specific therapeutic drugs for the treatment of patients with tension–type headache. Chinese herbal medicine has been recommended for the treat­ment of tension–type headache. However, no large clinical studies have been reported. Thus, there is no established evidence to support the administration of Chinese herbal medicine for tension–type headache. The long–term use of analgesic agents may lead to medication overuse headache. Thus, we prefer to use kakkontou for the treatment of chronic tension–type headache. In the present study, we analyzed the clinical findings of patients to whom kakkontou was prescribed. The study population included 153 patients who were diagnosed with tension–type headache and who were prescribed kakkontou. The effect of kakkontou was evaluated after 1 month of treatment. Among the 121 evaluable patients, kakkontou was effective for 99 patients and ineffective for 22 patients; thus, the final efficacy rate was 81.8%. Side effects of kakkontou are very rare. Kakkontou was effective for both sexes and all age groups, and was also effective for the treatment of patients with coexisting diseases.