deca
04-03-2010, 01:56 AM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1255320/Migraine-zapper-heads-pain-press-button.html
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/9052/screenshot022rw.png (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/screenshot022rw.png/)
The migraine zapper that can head off pain at the press of a button
By Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 1:24 AM on 04th March 2010
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Zapped: Many migraine sufferers treated with the device were pain-free within two hours
Millions of migraine sufferers could have their headaches nipped in the bud by a magnetic 'pain-zapper'.
The size and weight of a hair-dryer, it is held against the back of the head at the first sign of a migraine.
At the push of a button it gives out two fleeting bursts of electricity which short-circuit the 'electrical storm' in the brain that causes the splitting pain, flashing lights and blurred vision associated with migraines.
Many of those treated with the device were pain-free within two hours.
Migraines feature in the World Health Organisation's top 20 most disabling lifetime conditions and affect one in eight men and women.
With migraine drugs not effective or not suitable for all, the gadget, which is small and light enough for use at home, could offer fresh hope to millions. It is being assessed for sale in Britain and is expected to cost about £1,000.
The U.S. research centres on a technique called single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, or sTMS, in which electrical currents produced by powerful magnets are used to stimulate brain cells.
More than 160 men and women who suffer headaches with visual disturbance or aura took part in the study.
Half were given an sTMS gadget to take home and half a dummy device that looked almost identical. They were told to treat up to three attacks at the first sign of symptoms and to record how they got on.
Almost 40 per cent of those who used the device, developed by Californian firm Neuralieve, were free of pain two hours later compared with 22 per cent in the other group.
Those who used the gadget were also more likely to be pain-free 24 and 48 hours later, the journal Lancet Neurology reports.
The researchers, who include the gadget's designers and others with financial ties to Neuralieve, are not completely sure how it works but believe the electrical pulses it produces calm the over-excited brain cells responsible for migraines.
Dr Hans-Christoph Diener, a headache expert from Germany, cautioned that more work was needed to find the best way to use the device and that it could potentially trigger fits in epileptics.
But he added: 'sTMS could be a major step forward in the treatment of migraines with aura.'
Its not all bad:)
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/9052/screenshot022rw.png (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/screenshot022rw.png/)
The migraine zapper that can head off pain at the press of a button
By Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 1:24 AM on 04th March 2010
Comments (0) Add to My Stories
Zapped: Many migraine sufferers treated with the device were pain-free within two hours
Millions of migraine sufferers could have their headaches nipped in the bud by a magnetic 'pain-zapper'.
The size and weight of a hair-dryer, it is held against the back of the head at the first sign of a migraine.
At the push of a button it gives out two fleeting bursts of electricity which short-circuit the 'electrical storm' in the brain that causes the splitting pain, flashing lights and blurred vision associated with migraines.
Many of those treated with the device were pain-free within two hours.
Migraines feature in the World Health Organisation's top 20 most disabling lifetime conditions and affect one in eight men and women.
With migraine drugs not effective or not suitable for all, the gadget, which is small and light enough for use at home, could offer fresh hope to millions. It is being assessed for sale in Britain and is expected to cost about £1,000.
The U.S. research centres on a technique called single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, or sTMS, in which electrical currents produced by powerful magnets are used to stimulate brain cells.
More than 160 men and women who suffer headaches with visual disturbance or aura took part in the study.
Half were given an sTMS gadget to take home and half a dummy device that looked almost identical. They were told to treat up to three attacks at the first sign of symptoms and to record how they got on.
Almost 40 per cent of those who used the device, developed by Californian firm Neuralieve, were free of pain two hours later compared with 22 per cent in the other group.
Those who used the gadget were also more likely to be pain-free 24 and 48 hours later, the journal Lancet Neurology reports.
The researchers, who include the gadget's designers and others with financial ties to Neuralieve, are not completely sure how it works but believe the electrical pulses it produces calm the over-excited brain cells responsible for migraines.
Dr Hans-Christoph Diener, a headache expert from Germany, cautioned that more work was needed to find the best way to use the device and that it could potentially trigger fits in epileptics.
But he added: 'sTMS could be a major step forward in the treatment of migraines with aura.'
Its not all bad:)