Key clinical point: External trigeminal nerve stimulation (e-TNS) for 2 consecutive hours is an effective, safe, nonpharmacological, and noninvasive acute treatment option for a migraine attack with or without aura.
Major finding: A significantly higher percentage of patients experienced pain freedom (25.5% vs. 18.3%; P < .05) and showed resolution of the most bothersome migraine symptoms (56.4% vs. 42.3%; P < .01) with e-TNS vs. sham treatment, effectuating a therapeutic gain of 7.2% and 14.1%, respectively.
Study details: The intention-to-treat population in this multicenter, prospective, phase 3 study, TEAM, consisted of 538 adult patients with episodic migraine with or without aura who were randomly assigned to receive active (n = 259) or sham (n = 279) stimulation for 2 hours.
Disclosures: The study was sponsored by Cefaly Technology, Belgium. Some authors reported receiving consulting fees, advisory board honoraria, or research grants from various sources. MAL Johnson is the Global Director of Medical Affairs for Cefaly.
Source: Kuruvilla DE et al. Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled Trial of e-TNS for the Acute treatment of Migraine (TEAM). Sci Rep. 2022;12:5110 (Mar 24). Doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09071-6