Skip to content

Acupuncture for Prophylaxis of Vestibular Migraine

The Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture for Prophylaxis of Vestibular Migraine

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04664088
Enrollment
72
Registered
2020-12-11
Start date
2021-01-01
Completion date
2023-12-31
Last updated
2020-12-11

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Vestibular Migraine

Keywords

vestibular migraine, randomized controlled trial, acupuncture

Brief summary

With its high incidence rate and low diagnosis rate, vestibular migraine (VM) can seriously affect patients' quality of life. Current treatment of VM mainly contain rescue treatment and prophylaxis, both of which are often pharmacological-based therapies and bring a series of unavoidable side effects, which leads to poor compliance of patients. Moreover, frequent VM attacks can seriously affect patients' daily life and work. Therefore, prophylaxis treatment is of great significance for VM patients. As a non-pharmarceutical therapy, acupuncture is widely used for a wide range of migrainous and emotional disorders. Thus, it might be an alternative treatment for VM, but current evidence remains inconclusive. The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to investigate the prophylactic efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy in patients with VM.

Detailed description

This randomized controlled trial will enroll patients with vestibular migraine from the First Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University. All participants will be randomly assigned to two groups. Participants will receive acupuncture in the treatment group, while participants in the control group will be treated by venlafaxine. All treatments will be given for 8 weeks. The primary outcome measures are change in vertigo/migraine days and vertigo/migraine attacks, vertigo severity, and migraine intensity per 4 weeks from baseline. The secondary outcome measures are change in dosage of rescue medication, anxiety level,depression level,and quality of life per 4 weeks from baseline.

Interventions

PROCEDUREAcupuncture

Patients in this group will receive acupuncture once every other day (3 days per week) over an 8-week period (a total of 24 sessions). In each session, needles will be retained for 30 minutes. The acupoints will include Baihui (DU20), Qianding (DU21), Houding (DU19), Yintang (DU29), Fengchi (GB20), Shuaigu (GB8), Tongli (HT5), Hegu (LI4), Taichong (LR3), Fenglong (ST40), Xuanzhong (GB39) and Zulinqi (GB41). The selection of acupoints is on the basis of meridian theory and patients' clinical symptoms. Patients are not allowed to take prophylactic medications. But in case of intolerable acute VM attacks, the patients will be instructed to take triptans as rescue medication, and the dosage of medication will be documented in the patient diary.

DRUGVenlafaxine

Participants in this group will receive oral administration of venlafaxine 50 mg once a day for 8 weeks. In case of intolerable acute VM attacks, the patients will be instructed to take triptans as rescue medication, and the dosage of medication will be documented.

Sponsors

Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Patients with age 18 to 80 , male or female; 2. Patients meet the criteria proposed by the collaboration of Barany Society and the International Headache Society in 2012; 3. Vertigo/migraine attacks at least 3 times per month in the last 3 months; or vertigo/migraine days are at least 4 days per month; 4. Patients have unsatisfactory response to rescue treatments and seek for preventive treatments; 5. Patients can fully understand the study protocol and agree to sign written informed consent forms.

Exclusion criteria

1. Patients'vertigo and headache are caused by other diseases, such as vestibular neuritis, Meniere disease, tension headache, and other cerebrovascular diseases. 2. Patients have prophylactic headache treatment with drugs in the past 3 months. 3. Patients are receiving adjunctive therapy that is not widely accepted for treating VM, such as Chinese herbs. 4. Patients have severe complications in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, liver, kidney, hematopoietic and other systems that are not controlled significantly; 5. Pregnant and lactating female patients; 6. Patients have mental illness that affects cognitive function.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in the number of vertigo/migraine days and vertigo/migraine attacks4 weeks before intervention, at 4, 8 weeks after intervention and at 4, 8, 16 weeks of follow-upThe number of vertigo/migraine days and vertigo/migraine attacks will be assessed by a patient diary.
Change in vertigo severity4 weeks before intervention, at 4, 8 weeks after intervention and at 4, 8, 16 weeks of follow-upVertigo severity will be measured by dizziness handicap inventory (DHI)
Change in migraine intensity4 weeks before intervention, at 4, 8 weeks after intervention and at 4, 8, 16 weeks of follow-upMigraine intensity will be measured by visual analogue scale (VAS)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in doses of rescue medication4 weeks before intervention, at 4, 8 weeks after intervention and at 4, 8, 16 weeks of follow-upDoses of rescue medication (triptans) will be documented by patients in the patient diary.
Change in quality of life4 weeks before intervention, at 4, 8 weeks after intervention and at 4, 8, 16 weeks of follow-upQuality of life will be measure by 36-item short form health survey (SF-36).
Change in anxiety level4 weeks before intervention, at 4, 8 weeks after intervention and at 4, 8, 16 weeks of follow-upAnxiety level will be measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale.
Change in depression level4 weeks before intervention, at 4, 8 weeks after intervention and at 4, 8, 16 weeks of follow-upDepression level will be measured by Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale

Countries

China

Contacts

Primary ContactTianye Hu, MM
tianye_hty@gmail.com86-18357046386

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026