0000000000787260
AUTHOR
Marco Bartolini
Suggested randomized, controlled trial for frovatriptan: a reply
Dear Sir, We read with interest the comments of Dr. Tfelt-Hansen [1] regarding our three recently published randomized controlled trials comparing patients’ preference (primary endpoint) and efficacy (secondary endpoints) of frovatriptan 2.5 mg versus zolmitriptan 2.5 mg [2], rizatriptan 10 mg [3] and almotriptan 12.5 mg [4], and the meta-analysis of pooled individual data from the three studies [5]. In all studies frovatriptan showed similar preference and short-term efficacy outcomes (pain relief and pain-free episodes at 2 h) with respect to the other three triptans. The questions put by Dr. Tfelt-Hansen sound appropriate. Doubts are raised on the usefulness of head-to-head preference tr…
A double-blind, randomized, multicenter, Italian study of frovatriptan versus almotriptan for the acute treatment of migraine
The objective of this study was to evaluate patients’ satisfaction with acute treatment of migraine with frovatriptan or almotriptan by preference questionnaire. One hundred and thirty three subjects with a history of migraine with or without aura (IHS 2004 criteria), with at least one migraine attack in the preceding 6 months, were enrolled and randomized to frovatriptan 2.5 mg or almotriptan 12.5 mg, treating 1–3 attacks. The study had a multicenter, randomized, double blind, cross-over design, with treatment periods lasting <3 months. At study end patients assigned preference to one of the treatments using a questionnaire with a score from 0 to 5 (primary endpoint). Secondary endpoints w…
When to use frovatriptan in migraine? A reply
Dear Sir, We read with interest the comments of Dr. Tfelt-Hansen [1] on the two recently published randomized controlled trials comparing patients’ preference (primary end-point) and efficacy (secondary end-points) of frovatriptan with respect to rizatriptan [2] and almotriptan [3]. In both studies, frovatriptan showed similar preference and short-term efficacy outcomes (pain relief and pain free episodes at 2 h) with respect to the other two triptans. The principal concern of Dr. Tfelt-Hansen was the very early use of frovatriptan in these studies, making their results hardly comparable with those of previous randomized controlled trials [4–6], where patients waited until the headache was …
Frovatriptan vs almotriptan for treatment of menstrual migraine: a double-blind, randomized, cross-over, multicenter Italian study
Results 67 of the 96 female patients of the intention-to-treat population of the main study had regular menstrual cycles and were thus included in this subgroup analysis. 77 migraine attacks classified as related to menses were treated with frovatriptan and 78 with almotriptan. Rate of pain relief at 2and 4-hrs was 36% and 53% for frovatriptan and 41% and 50% for almotriptan (p=NS between treatments). Rate of pain free at 2and 4-hrs was 19% and 47% with frovatriptan and 29% and 54% for almotriptan (p=NS). At 24-hrs, 62% of frovatriptanand 67% of almotriptan-treated patients had pain relief, while 60% vs. 67% were pain free (p=NS). Recurrence at 24-hrs was significantly (p<0.05) lower with f…